


Star Trek Vs Star Wars: The Imperial War

by Darius_Trent



Series: Star Trek Vs Star Wars [2]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 16:49:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20910908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darius_Trent/pseuds/Darius_Trent
Summary: Months after the Battle of the Ivor system, it's up the the crew of the Arizona to stop the Imperial Invasion while Starfleet Command is on it's knees. If you don't understand the context of this read my first book, The Beginning. Comments and opinions are welcome but no hate.





	1. Seemingly Outnumbered

Star Trek Vs Star Wars:

The Imperial War

Following the destruction of three of the Empire’s Star Destroyers, war has been declared on the United Federation of Planets. Imperial spaceships have already begun to invade and occupy planets and systems surrounding the anomaly from which they emerge from and these worlds, being small colonies and science outposts, are helpless against the might of the Empire. Worst of all, the evil Darth Vader commands these ships, leading from his Super Star Destroyer the Executor.

But that is the least of the Federation’s problems. Following the unexpected arrival of the USS Discovery, Federation internal politics have been too focused on the Discovery and her crew rather than fighting the Imperial army. The reasons as to the extreme secrecy surrounding the Discovery’s disappearance and subsequent cover-up have been unravelled, making people question Starfleet’s ability to lead the Federation.

In spite of this, Admiral Picard leads a small band of ships in resistance against the Imperials. These ships and their crews, willing to give their lives to stop the Imperial war machine, are the only line of defence in a war where they are seemingly outnumbered every time they fight…

#  Chapter 1: Seemingly outnumbered

**Engagement 3: Battle of the Tiburon System**  
  
---  
  
**United Federation of Planets**

| 

**Galactic Empire**  
  
Class: Galaxy Venture Refit

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Arizona

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.9

Armament: 14 Type X Phaser banks, 2 torpedo launchers, 250 Photon Torpedoes, 50 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 8 shuttlecraft, 1 Danube Class Runabout

| 

Class: Imperial 1

Ships present: 10

Known ships: ISD Acclimator

Maximum combat speed: MGLT 60

Armament: 75 turbolaser cannons (turret based), 60 ion cannons.

Weapons layout: Forward, Starboard, Port, Dorsal

Auxiliary craft: 72 TIE fighters, 8 Lambda class shuttles, 15 Troop Transports  
  
Class: Galaxy X

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Olympus

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.98

Armament: 2 Phaser cannons, 15 Type XII Phaser banks, 1 type XX Spinal Lance Phaser, 7 torpedo launchers, 200 Photon Torpedoes, 200 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 4 shuttlecraft, 12 Peregrine Class fighters, 8 Danube Class Runabouts

|   
  
Class: Excelsior Refit

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Okinawa

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.4

Armament: 10 Type X Phaser banks, 6 torpedo launchers, 30 Photon Torpedoes, 90 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 6 shuttlecraft, 6 shuttlepods

|   
  
Class: Intrepid

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Destiny

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.975

Armament: 13 Type X Phaser banks, 4 torpedo launchers, 55 Photon Torpedoes, 40 Quantum Torpedoes, 5 Tricobalt devices

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 7 shuttlecraft, 2 shuttlepods, 1 Delta Class runabout.

|   
  
The binary stars of the Tiburon system flared brightly into space. The stars, one blue and one red, had been locked in a near eternal orbit around each other thanks to the work of gravity. The system had even existed for so long it even had a single M-class planet in orbit of both of them, the planet Tiburon Prime. This planet had for millenia had sustained a civilisation, the Tiburons, who had been a part of the Federation for more than a century. It’s population, however, was about to be forced into a war it never wanted a part in. 

Ten Imperial 1 Star Destroyers dropped out of hyperspace a fair distance away from the planet. These Star Destroyers, part of the massive fleet sent by the Emperor to invade the Federation, has for a few months had free reign over invading the Milky Way galaxy, not only completely taking over the Typhon sector but also invading the Maxia, Sierra and Omicron sectors, so far the extent of their probes had managed to penetrate. Worlds such as Archer IV were invaded and re-colonized, their non-human populations forced into slavery and their human populations taken away for ‘scientific experiments’. Starbases such as Starbase 75 were left as wrecked husks, the Starfleet crews having evacuated and self-destructed them. The Federation, while abhorring these attacks, were incapable of doing anything to retaliate, as the entirety of Starfleet Command was grounded due to ‘legal issues’ surrounding the return of the USS Discovery, which was being impounded in Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards in orbit of Mars.

But this fleet was not alone however. 4 Federation starships dropped out of warp in front of the fleet, the starships Arizona, Olympus, Destiny and Okinawa. These ships, outnumbered 10:4, were Tiburon’s only line of defence in this invasion attempt.

On the bridge of the ISD Acclimator, Captain Markus Saxon stood firmly above the trenches that ran either side of him. He had hoped for a posting before the war on the Executor, but being in command of 10 Star Destroyers was more than enough for him. Yet somehow he felt that this war was wrong somehow. Maybe they were never meant to declare war on the Federation, perhaps never encounter it. Whatever doubts he had in his mind, he had orders from Lord Vader to conquer as much enemy territory as he could, and he intended on doing so.

“Captain, we’re being hailed by one of their ships.” announced an officer at communications, interrupting his thoughts. 

“Put them on the viewer.” ordered Saxon. He turned around to face the viewer to discover the person who had hailed them; Captain Darius Trent, the man who had nearly killed Vader.

_ “This is Captain Darius Trent of the USS Arizona. Disarm your weapons and prepare to be boarded.” _

“This is Captain Markus Saxon of the ISD Acclimator, and I don’t think we will.” taunted Saxon, looking down at his fingernails as a sign of disrespectful dominance. “From the looks of it, we have 10 ships, you only 4. We outnumber you more than 2:1.”

_ “I understand you may think yourself superior to us in terms of numbers,”  _ continued Trent.  _ “But think how many of you we destroyed at the Battle of the Ivor system. Surely that’s enough to give you pause?” _

“No, it isn’t.” replied Saxon with a smirk. “And even if you destroyed one of my ships, I would have another take it’s place.”

_ “Very well then.” _ ended Trent.  _ “You leave us with no choice.” _ He closed the channel, leaving Saxon to turn back around to his men in the trenches.

“Arm the turbolaser batteries and bring us in range of their ships” Ordered Saxon. “Have the other ships do the same, and start launching TIE fighters.”

As the crew bustled below him, Saxon looked up to see what enemies he had before him. The Arizona was there, already distinguishable from the probe which had managed to get back to imperial space from the Battle of the Ivor system and miraculously without a scratch from the battle now. The other three he wasn’t so sure of. One looked like the Crazy Horse but bulkier, one looked about half the size of the Arizona, but the other looked very similar to the Arizona, save for a third engine pod at the back and a large cannon on the underside of the ship. That ship faced one of his other vessels, as if it was lining up for a shot of some sort. Before Saxon could say anything regarding that ship, a flash of orange light burst out from the ship, instantly vaporizing the command tower of the Star Destroyer it was facing. It then proceeded to fire multiple blue torpedoes at the now paralysed Star Destroyer, one shot hitting the exposed reactor bulb at the bottom and causing the ship to explode, sending debris hurling into other Star Destroyers. 

The other ships then started attacking the fleet, the Arizona firing a single red light, which split off into eight different torpedoes before hitting the shield generators of the Acclimator and several other Star Destroyers, destroying them. The smaller ships fired several smaller beams at those Star Destroyers, scarring their hulls before firing more of those strange blue torpedoes, destroying more as the battle progressed.

“Report!” yelled Saxon over the carnage.

“We’ve lost 3 Star Destroyers so far.” announced his First officer, struggling to hold onto the wall as the ship shook with the impact of weapons fire. “The remainder have no shields anymore, including us”

“Are we in weapons range yet?” angrily asked Saxon.

“We’re still over 100 Kms out of optimal turbolaser range.” reported the officer at tactical. “Their weapons range greatly exceeds ours.”

“Sir, that dreadnought they have is turning to face us!” called the First officer as he looked through the windows out into space.

“Take emergency evasive action!” Saxon ordered. And as his ship slowly tried to get away from the dreadnought, the last thing he saw was a flash of orange light before everything went black.

“USS Olympus reports they’ve fired their lance phaser at the ship Captain Saxon was on.” reported Th’etonnor from his station at tactical. Trent looked up at the viewscreen to see the wreckage of Saxon’s Star Destroyer, still drifting in the direction it was trying to turn in to get away from the Olympus. There was a continuous hole through the ship, cutting through the main structure of the vessel and straight through the command tower, the entire ship now without lights as Trent know of the asphyxiation the crew were now suffering from. Nevertheless, he knew that this was a fact of war that he had seen even before this, during the Dominion War and the current conflict Captain Archer was calling ‘The Imperial War’. 

He still wondered why these people, while still human, were predisposed to violence and racism. Indeed, scans of Imperial ships had revealed all human crews, and survivors of invasions had reported the mistreatment of non-humans during invasion. ‘No wonder there’s a rebellion going on there.’ Thought Trent as his attention turned back to the battle at hand.

“Report.” Ordered Trent.

“We’re still well away from their weapons range.” Reported Th’etonnor. “We’ve destroyed 5 of their ships, the remainder are either disabled or attempting to retreat.”

“Sir, we can’t let their command get wind of this.” Commented Aldrin as she turned to face Trent. “I recommend we disable the other ships and take their crew in for questioning.”

“Agreed.” Replied Trent. “Order the fleet to fire to disable. Tell Captain Mercer he can stop blowing them all up now.”

“Aye sir.” Replied Th’etonnor. 

“You seem awfully close to Captain Mercer.” Commented Hawk from her position at the helm.

“I am.” Answered Trent. “Me, him and Captain Archer on the Destiny have known each other since childhood.”

“Huh.” Was all Hawk said as she turned back to her console. 

The Arizona turned to fire at the retreating ships’ engines. These ships, already without shields, were helpless as an assortment of phaser beams, phaser pulses and photon torpedoes were fired at their engines, destroying them and leaving them available to capture by the Arizona and it’s fleet. 

“Th’etonnor, beam anyone on the bridge of those ships into our brig.” ordered Trent. 

“Aye sir.” replied Th’etonnor, before looking at his console strangely. “Captain, I’m reading an energy buildup within one of their vessels.”

“That sounds like the buildup to a self-destruct.” remarked Aldrin.

“Detecting more buildups within the other vessels.” discovered Th’etonnor. “Explosion is imminent.”

“Beam as many people as you can off their ships!” quickly replied Trent. He looked out the viewscreen as Th’etonnor worked hard at his console. The first ship started to explode, the ship’s engine core overloading, consuming the ship in a ball of flame. The remaining Star Destroyers followed suit, immediately exploding one by one as their cores overloaded, sending shockwaves across the immediate area. The Arizona and it’s fleet, far enough away to avoid being badly damaged, felt the waves very lightly as the ships lightly shook with each wave. 

“...Did you manage to get anyone?” asked Trent, his head in his hands.

“No sir, the energy build up prevented a transporter lock.” answered Th’etonnor as he looked grimly down on Captain Trent.

Trent let out a sigh and got out of his chair. “Hail Tiburon and ask if they’re okay. I’m going to report to Enterprise about the battle.”

“Aye captain.” replied Th’etonnor. Trent walked to his ready room and went through the door, the doors closing with a hiss behind him.

“That’s the 3rd time we’ve failed to get any survivors.” Commented Horan, sitting at his station on the bridge.

“Well thanks for reminding us of our failure.” snidely replied Hawk.

“Lieutenant.” intervened Aldrin. “We all support each other here.”

“Like we supported the command crew of Starbase 75?” angrily shot back Hawk.

“There was nothing we could do at Starbase 75!” replied Aldrin, raising her voice above Hawk’s. “Commander Charbel and her crew decided it was the most effective means of ensuring the Imperials didn’t get their hands on Federation tech. The self-destruct of the base cost them over 50 ships.”

“50 to over 1,000 others!” argued back Hawk. “If we had the full Federation fleet we could whip these guys back to their own universe.”

“And that’s what we’re trying to do while Starfleet tries to get rid of the conspiracies plaguing it currently in court. Do you want me to relieve you of duty?” 

“...No sir.” answered Hawk. 

“Then this argument is over.” ended Aldrin. “Now can you please move us into orbit of Tiburon?”

“Yes sir.” replied Hawk. 

The Arizona and it’s counterparts moved into orbit of the planet. Behind them, the wreckage of the Star Destroyers burned brightly behind them, the fleet of 10 laid to waste at the hands of a small group of 4 ships. It seemed like another successful engagement for the Federation resistance.


	2. Lurking in the dark

#  Chapter 2: Lurking in the dark

The Ivor system; the birthplace of the Imperial invasion. Over 700 Star Destroyers still resided here, waiting for orders as the SSD Executor dwarfed all of them, silently floating in space as it continuously orbited around Ivor Prime. A full 100 Star Destroyers escorted it, in case of an attack which at this point still seemed unlikely. 

On the bridge of the Executor, Darth Vader sat in the command chair, awaiting news from the attack fleet he had recently sent out. Admiral Ozzel walked in, with a pad with recent detailed news on it.

“Can I assume you come with news from the fleet?” Asked Vader.

“I do come with news, but not of the good kind.” answered Ozzel, looking down at the pad. “Our probes show the wreckage of the 10 Star Destroyers, 5 were destroyed, the remaining ones self-destructed. The scans also showed signs that the Arizona lead a small group of 3 other ships against us, one of which was capable of blasting a hole straight through the shields of our vessels.”

“It appears your plan is not going as anticipated.” Remarked Vader. 

“Perhaps the intel we got from invading the New Providence colony was incorrect.” suggested Ozzel. “Maybe the Federation has managed to resolve it’s internal issues and sent a full attack force our way.”

“If that were true, we would not be encountering small groups of ships every time we attack. Therefore, I still believe it is a small splinter Federation faction that is defending them from us.” 

“I feel this would be much simpler if we brought the Death Star here.” Commented Grand Moff Tarkin, walking onto the bridge. “With it, we could destroy the Federation homeworld and bring a swift end to this conflict.”

“That would be an excellent idea Grand Moff, if we knew where it was.” countered Vader. “Our probes still haven’t managed to penetrate deeper into their space, and it’s only a matter of time before one side makes a mistake, and that side is increasingly looking like us.”

“Perhaps we could find some allies here.” Suggested Ozzel. “Surely someone else wants the Federation gone?”

“As far as we can tell, the other powers surrounding our entry point are the Romulan Star Empire and the Breen Confederacy, both of which are extremely isolationist.” answered Vader. “There are rumours of a ‘Klingon Empire’, a ‘Cardassian Union’ and a ‘Dominion’, but we are yet to encounter them.”

“They can’t keep destroying our probes forever.” Commented Ozzel. He walked up to a map of explored territory surrounding their location, the map going as far down as the Paulson Nebula and as far up as what was referred to as the ‘Delta Quadrant’ by the locals. “We may be able to try and find a different route to their homeworld by going through a region of space between the Romulans and the Federation called the ‘Neutral Zone’. Interrogation suggests that neither side is allowed to enter the region, giving us a corridor deeper into their space. It will mean though, we will have to continuously change course, as there are a variety of anomalies and boundaries we will have to avoid in order not to get caught on either side.”

“That sounds like a good plan.” answered Vader. “Have a series of probes prepared.”

“Yes my Lord.” Replied Ozzel. He walked out of the bridge, his new orders causing him to walk with increased pace.

“He’s not the most experienced officer, you know.” Remarked Tarkin. “He served a significant portion of his life teaching.”

“We’ll just wait and see if his plan works out.” replied Vader. “If it fails to bear anything, I will make sure he won’t make any more mistakes.”

“Very well then my Lord.” Tarkin walked out of the bridge, Vader facing away from him looking out into space. From the outside, the Executor and it’s escorts still orbited Ivor Prime, waiting for the probes to bring in the necessary routes needed for them to invade and destroy the Federation homeworld.

  
  


_ Captain’s log stardate: 57638.09. The Arizona has rendevouz with the USS Enterprise and it’s fleet to report our status and next mission. I’m eager to hear news from Earth and the status of Starfleet Command. _

Captain Trent walked onto the bridge of the USS Enterprise. A Sovereign class ship, the Enterprise had been the flagship of the Federation since it’s completion in 2372, and had been through it’s fair share of conflict. Never before, though, had it faced such an enemy as it did now, a tyrannical human driven civilization whose sole purpose seemed to be to dominate over all other forms of life, human or not. Scans of Imperial controlled space suggested nearly a thousand Star Destroyers, with one vessel of at least 19 Kilometres in length in the Ivor system, presumably their Flagship. He wondered how they would defeat such an enormous vessel with only 10 ships at their disposal, before pressing the doorbell on Picard’s ready room. He faintly heard the word “come” before the doors slid open, revealing the 75 year old Admiral at his desk.

“Come in Captain.” welcomed Picard. Gesturing his hands to the empty guest chair in front of him. Trent walked in and sat in the chair, looking forwards at Picard as he brought up something on his PADD. “I want you to take a look at this.” he handed him the PADD, and Trent looked at it in horror as he read the headline.

“The Federation’s going to dismantle the Discovery?” asked a horrified Trent. 

“I’m afraid so.” replied Picard, getting out of his chair. “Based on the testimony provided by Captain Saru and Commander Michael Burnham, the Federation council thinks it best if the ship were no longer in service. They say it’s existence is a threat to Federation security.”

“Well at least that’ll free up Starfleet to fight the Empire with us.”

“That’s where it gets even worse.” continued Picard. “When they investigated the Discovery, they also discovered extensive references to Section 31, including the operation of a small fleet of ships which is still in service today. As a result, Starfleet Command is going to go through internal restructuring.”

“But that could take months at best.” complained Trent. “And the Empire could destroy us long before then as well.”

“Yes, it seems our situation is dire.” replied Picard. “However, I've taken the liberty of asking one of my contacts to...free up Discovery and her crew for us.”

“How much longer do you think we can keep this up?” asked Trent.

“If the Federation council’s too busy to notice us, I’d reckon we can go with this for maybe a month or two before the Imperials overwhelm us.”

“Your contact better be good.” commented Trent.

“Oh trust me.” jokingly retaliated Picard. “He knows what he’s doing.”

“Have you got new orders for me?” asked Trent, attempting to change the topic of the conversation.

“Yes I do actually.” Answered Picard. “The USS Hotspur has reported an increase in the numbers of probes it’s had to stop. As she is a Miranda class with a somewhat older computer system, her targeting computer will soon be unable to keep up with the amount of probes coming her way. I want the Arizona, the Olympus and the Destiny to reinforce her patrol of the areas where the probes can go deeper into our space. I’m also going to assign Ensign Organa to you to help you with the probes.”

“You mean Princess Leia?” asked Trent. “I thought she was only an observer.”

“Yes, well me and Mr Worf came to the decision that, as she looked like she would be with us for quite some time, we may as well give her a rank so she can access some information on the Enterprise.”

“Understood.” Replied Trent. “And how long do you want us to do this?”

“At least until Discovery is able to come to us.” Replied Picard. “Until then, stay vigilant.”

“Understood sir.” replied Trent. “We’ll do our best.”

“I wouldn't expect any less of you, based on our time working together. Good luck Captain.”

The two shook hands before Trent walked out of the room and onto the bridge, where he made his way to the turbolift.

“Deck 7.” ordered Trent as he walked into the turbolift. The doors hissed shut and the familiar sound of the turbolift whirring began. The whirring suddenly slowed to a halt as it stopped before it’s original destination to let in another person. Trent could already tell who that person was; Princess Leia Organa.

She was wearing a Command division Starfleet uniform. It appeared that Admiral Picard was correct about giving her an actual rank, as she now wore an ensign’s pip on her collar. In her hands was a PADD, obviously with orders on it from Picard.

“Hey there Captain.” Greeted Leia with a smile. “Captain Picard told me I was going to be working with you now on the probes assignment.”

“Funny that, he told me the same.” Replied Trent with a smile. “Are you going to the transporter room as well?” 

“I was going to get R2-D2 and C-3PO from engineering first.” Answered Leia. “R2 seems to have taken a liking to Commander La Forge now. He’ll only get repairs and upgrades given to him there.”

“I see.” Remarked Trent. “La Forge’s been working with artificial beings for quite a while now. He definitely knows what he’s doing with your friends.”

“He does.” Replied Leia as the lift doors closed. “Deck 16.”

The lift started whirring again, still to it’s original destination but now with a second one after.

“I see Picard gave you a rank.” Commented Trent. 

“He did. I needed it to access some star charts of the area in my own time. It’s only a temporary rank; as soon as this is all over, I can go back to being a part of the Rebellion.”

“Actually, I heard about an attempt to contact them.” added Trent. “How’s that going?”

“So far not so good.” Answered Leia. “We tried sending a probe through the anomaly, but it got destroyed before it could enter. Our next hope is to automate the Tantive IV and send it through the anomaly.”

“Ok then.” Replied Trent as the doors opened to deck 7. “Well, this is my stop.”

“I’ll see you on the Arizona then.” Remarked Leia.

“See you then.” Ended Trent, giving Leia a nod before walking out of the turbolift, hearing the doors hiss shut behind him. He walked through the corridors of the Enterprise until he found the transporter room.

“Ensign, can you beam me to the Arizona?” asked Trent as he walked into the room. 

“I can beam you there.” Answered the Ensign as she started to input the coordinates of the Arizona’s transporter room. “Standby.”

“Very well ensign.” replied Trent as he walked onto the pad. He made sure to stand on one of the yellow areas on the pad, as this was the area where he would be dematerialized.

“Energize.” ordered Trent once he was in position. The Ensign pressed a few buttons on her console, before raising one of the sliders on her controls, dematerializing Trent as he turned into a complex data pattern, ready to be transmitted to the Arizona for rematerialization. And in the space where Trent once stood was nothing but air as the rest of the Enterprise continued on without him. 


	3. Discovery

#  Chapter 3: Discovery

“I’m too old for this.” muttered Montgomery Scott as he crawled through one of the USS Discovery’s jeffery tubes. The technically 158 year old retired Starfleet engineer had been asked by his friend Jean-Luc Picard, commanding officer of the Enterprise, to help the Discovery out of the predicament it was now in. He had conferred with the crew of the ship which had come forward in time with the ship and it was Michael Burnham, the De facto first officer of the ship, who suggested he help with getting on the ship.

“Just keep calm, we’re almost there.” called out Lieutenant Commander Stamets from behind him. Stamets, a human with tardigrade DNA integrated into him, was the only person capable of piloting the Discovery’s spore drive system, and needed to be onboard in order to activate the drive. 

Scott breathed a sigh of belief as he looked sideways to what looked to be the engineering room of the Discovery. “We’re here laddie.” 

He carefully opened the small door to get inside, allowing him and Stamets to crawl out and into Main Engineering.

“Alright, I’ll get to work here.” remarked Stamets as he walked up to the warp core, setting up some equipment by the controls at the front of the horizontal core. “You head to the bridge and secure the rest of the ship.”

“Yes Laddie.” replied Scott as he pulled a small hand phaser from his belt. “I’ll be sure no-one else is here.” He attached a small device to the door controls, forcing the doors open and giving him access to the rest of the darkly lit ship.

As he made his way through the dimly lit corridors of the Crossfield class ship, he felt as if he were being watched somehow. As he walked up to the turbo lift shaft that lead on to the bridge, he swore he saw another light behind him, turning around to see nothing behind him.

After a period where he climbed up and through lift shafts, he finally found himself at the bridge, where he immediately set up at one of the consoles to the right of the command chair.

He pulled out a small mid-23rd century communicator out of his pocket. As Starfleet would be able to intercept an ordinary combadge transmission, the Discovery crew had decided to use their communicators, as they operated on a different set of frequencies which Starfleet no-longer monitored constantly. He flipped it open, reminding him of the communicators he used back when he was on the Constitution Class Enterprise.

“Scott to Stamets,” whispered Scott through the communicator, “I’m at the bridge. Ready to silently power up the ship.”

_ “Are you sure?” _ asked Stamets through the communicator.  _ “Because from the looks of it, Main Engineering just powered on silently.” _

Scott looked around him. Sure enough, consoles started coming to life, flickering on with a blue interface contrasting to the bronze colour of the ship.

“I didn’t do it.” Remarked Scott as he made sure no-one could see the lights inside Discovery power up by covering the windows with blast shields.

_ “Then who did?” _ queried Stamets.

_ “I did.” _ Announced a female voice through the communicator, startling Scott. 

“Who are ye and what are ye doin here?” bewilderedly asked Scott. 

_ “I am Zora.” _ Replied the voice.  _ “And I am the USS Discovery’s computer. You register as Lieutenant Montgomery Scott, junior engineer under Chief Engineer Max Louvier on the USS Enterprise NCC-1701.” _

Scott briefly thought back to the days when he wasn’t chief engineer of the Enterprise, and having to suppress all knowledge of the existence of Discovery when he was but a junior engineer. It greatly saddened him, as he had to lie and say that the Discovery and her crew had been the first he’d seen die in battle, before being forced to not speak about her again. He had wondered about her fate for years, before re-focusing on his work and becoming Chief Engineer of the Enterprise.

“I dinna think that starfleet had intelligent A.I.’s on Discovery when it was built.” Commented Scott as he looked around him, searching for the source of Zora’s voice.

_ “I am the end result of the aggressive A.I. known as Control fighting against Discovery’s computer as it tried to survive outside of Leland. Control attempted to invade Discovery’s computer systems as a source of refuge. As a result, I was created by the A.I. created by the Sphere Data to get rid of Control.” _

“And I can assume Control has been purged from the ship?” asked Scott.

_ “I can assure you that Control is not in the ship’s systems at any point.” _

“Say, are you familiar with current events?” Queried Scott as he started to tinker with the Tactical console.

_ “I am aware that Starfleet intends on decommissioning Discovery.”  _ Answered Zora.  _ “However, the sphere data insists that Discovery is the safest place for the data. In anticipation of any deconstructive efforts to the ship, I have beamed aboard 20 Transphasic torpedoes, and added the components necessary to build more to the cargo hold.” _

“Well lass, we’re getting you out of here.” remarked Scott. “Me and yer crew are going to get you someplace where you’ll be useful.”

_ “We will have to try to disable the dock’s security sensors before we escape, as well as repair the shield generators and the hull for mycelial transit. I would also recommend an upgrade to the phasers, in case we need to defend ourselves.” _

“Well then,” commented Scott, “let’s get started.”

In space, the USS Hotspur moved forwards. The Hotspur, a Miranda Class, has been in service for more than a century, and had long since shown it’s age. During one of the earliest engagements with the Cardassians, the Hotspur had lead a small attack force of 3 other Miranda Class ships in an attack on 3 Cardassian Galor Class ships invading a colony on Minos Korva. All the ships but the Hotspur were destroyed, and it wasn’t until the arrival of the USS Gandhi, one of the newer Ambassador Class ships, where the Cardassian force was completely dispatched. Ever since then, the Hotspur has been assigned to non-combat duties, trudging along in the Sierra sector as it waited for something to happen. That something had happened.

With the outbreak of the Imperial Invasion, and Starfleet’s seemingly ignorant perspective on the conflict, the Hotspur was called in by Admiral Picard as part of a squad of 10 ships to defend the Federation while Starfleet was on it’s knees in the Federation council. It had been assigned the relatively important role of stopping Imperial probes from going further into Federation space, but this number kept on increasing, to the point where the targeting computer would eventually be unable to target and destroy all the probes. It had thus requested reinforcement for it’s mission, reinforcements it would now be getting.

The USS Arizona dropped out of warp in front of the Hotspur, as well as the USS Destiny and the USS Olympus. These ships, sent by Admiral Picard to help the Hotspur, now conferred with it as to what they should do now.

“Greeting Captain Soto.” Greeted Trent from the bridge of the Arizona. On the screen in front of him were three faces, separated by LCARS borders, the faces of Captains Mercer, Archer and Soto.

_ “It’s good to see you too.”  _ Replied Soto.  _ “You don’t know how desperately we needed you here.” _

_ “Relax Captain, we’ve got your back.” _ Comforted Captain Mercer on the Olympus.  _ “Can you tell us where we need to go, or something like that?” _

_ “We’ve got probes popping up in the Ruah, Zyrchinn and Omicron systems.”  _ Answered Soto.  _ “At least that’s were they usually pop up. We often find probe activity outside them, but the probes usually choose those systems as a sort of bearings finder before they move on deeper into Federation space.” _

_ “Well, the Destiny can take the Omicron Sector.” _ Proposed Captain Archer on the Destiny.  _ “The Olympus can take the Maxia sector and the Arizona can go with you and coordinate our efforts.” _

_ “That sounds good for us.” _ Replied Mercer.  _ “It’ll give us time to re-calibrate the lance phaser and work on that precision cutting mode my chief engineer suggested.” _

“Why are you so obsessed with that lance phaser?” Jokingly asked Trent. “Honestly, all the time you’re like ‘lance phaser this, lance phaser that’.”

_ “I told you, I like blowing things up.” _ Answered Mercer with a smile.

“Regardless of which, we should be off to our respective sectors, shouldn’t we?” proposed Trent.

_ “He’s right you know.” _ Added Soto.  _ “the more time we spend here, the more chance there is for Imperial probes to slip by and go deeper into Federation space.” _

_ “Very well then.” _ Replied Mercer.  _ “We’ll be off now. Olympus out.” _

_ “Same here.”  _ Ended Archer.  _ “Destiny out.” _

The entire transmission ended, returning the viewscreen to the view of the Hotspur facing them. 

“Captain, both the Olympus and the Destiny just went to warp to their respective sectors.” Announced Hawk at the helm.

“Th’etonnor, Organa, start to coordinate with the Hotspur’s tactical on probe positions and firing solutions.” Ordered Trent. “Hawk, put us in parallel course and speed with the Hotspur.”

“Aye sir.” Replied Th’etonnor. Ensign Organa moved from her workstation at the back to the tactical console behind Trent, standing next to Th’etonnor.

“Moving into parallel course.” announced Hawk as the ship slowly lurched to align it’s course with that of the Hotspur.

In space, the Arizona proceeded forwards on impulse power. On it’s left, the USS Hotspur moved at the same speed as it, in the same direction as both ships started working together to figure out the locations of probes and their most likely destinations. 


	4. More Unwelcome Guests

#  Chapter 4: More Unwelcome Guests

The hangar bay doors of the SSD opened up to the vastness of space below it. From the hanger, over 50 probes dropped down, ready to scan deeper into Federation space. They all went in different directions, going to hyperspace once they predicted they would end up in a safe location. 

On the bridge of the Executor, Darth Vader strolled up to Admiral Ozzel, who was overseeing the launch of the probes.

“Admiral, what’s your status on the probes?”

“They’ve just gone to hyperspace my lord.” answered Ozzel. “We’ve sent out 20 probes as decoys to where we usually go, the rest are headed to the neutral zone.”

“This Neutral zone of yours better to be what it’s worth.” Commented Vader. “Should it not be, you’ll find that my patience has worn thin from your lack of progress.”

“...Yes my lord.” replied Ozzel worriedly.

“Lord Vader,” called out Tarkin as he walked into the room, “I have just received word that the Death Star is about to enter the anomaly to join the fleet.”

“Was this your doing Tarkin?” Queried Vader as he strode up to face the Grand Moff. 

“In anticipation of the success of Ozzel’s plan my lord.” replied Tarkin. “If it fails to come to fruition, we can use it as a sign of strength on a Federation world, to force them to surrender to us.”

“Very well then. Put the anomaly on the main viewer.” Vader Ordered as an officer in the trenches did so, bringing up a view of where the blueish sphere would be on the viewer. The anomaly burst into existence, glowing an extremely deep blue, before brightening and increasing the intensity of the colour. Eventually, it got so bright it became pure white, with light shining in every direction as an extremely large amount of energy was being transferred to their universe. 

Just as it seemed it couldn’t get more intense, the anomaly appeared to dissipate as the Death Star emerged from it. The neighbouring star Destroyers had long since gotten out of the way, leaving the Death Star to drift forwards as it got it’s bearings. The viewer on the Executor didn’t do the appearance of the Death Star justice, but it gave Vader the knowledge that it had arrived safely.

“My lord, what should we do with the Death Star while we wait for the probes to finish up?” Asked Ozzel.

“Have her move into orbit of Ivor Prime while I consider our options.” Answered Vader. “I will be in my chambers if you need me.”

“Yes my lord.” Replied Ozzel as Vader walked off the bridge.

In orbit of Ivor Prime, the Death Star dropped out of hyperspace. The moon sized battle station then proceeded to start orbiting the planet, as the Executor and it’s escorts moved to escort the Death Star. They all started moving in formation as they continuously orbited the planet, waiting for the probes to do their magic.

“Here they come.” Announced Leia from her science station at the back of the Arizona’s bridge. She had been monitoring Imperial probe activity for the past several hours, waiting to see if some were coming their way. But where Captain Soto was describing probes numbering in the 50’s coming towards the Hotspur, Leia only found a meager 7 heading towards them now. She had double checked with the Olympus and the Destiny and both were saying the same things; a low amount of probes coming their way. It didn’t feel right in Leia’s mind. Hell, nothing about this conflict or her position on the Arizona felt right at all. But nevertheless, someone had to help these people from the Empire, and she seemed like one of the best people to do it.

“Target probes with phasers.” Ordered Trent. “Nothing gets through here, regardless of how many there are.”

The probes started dropping out of Hyperspace. Each time they did, a phaser beam almost instantaneously fired at the probe, destroying it with ease. This process repeated itself until no probes were left.

“That felt too easy.” Commented Hawk.

“I must concur with Lieutenant Hawk Captain, that did feel very easy.” Added Aldrin.

“Maybe they’re out of probes.” Suggested Horan.

“I can assure you, with a thousand Star Destroyers, it’d take years to run out of probes.” Rebutted Leia. 

A warning signal flashed through Th’etonnor’s console.

“Captain, we are receiving an automated warning signal from the outposts lining the Neutral Zone.” Reported Th’etonnor.

“Don’t tell me the Romulans have decided to take advantage of our situation.” Commented Aldrin.

“The outposts aren’t registering Romulans ship though, they’ve scanned what look like Imperial Probes!”

“It was a set up!” remarked Trent. “Contact the Enterprise immediately!” 

Without a moment to lose, Th’etonnor contacted the Enterprise, and pretty soon Picard’s face was on the viewscreen.

_ “What’s the matter Captain?” _ Asked Picard.

“We’ve got probes in the Neutral Zone Admiral” replied Trent. “They look like they’re going to Earth.”

_ “This is serious news, but i think it may be related to something we just discovered.”  _ Picard Commented.  _ “We detected a moon sized object emerge from the anomaly. It’s now in orbit of Ivor Prime, so we were able to scan it using long-range sensors. We’re sending you the scans we have now.” _

“Captain, this isn’t just any old moon,” remarked Leia, “it’s the Death Star.”

_ “We are going to have to plan our next move very carefully.” _ Continued Picard.  _ “I’m going to order all ships to rendezvous with you at your current location. There’ll be a meeting of all captains in my observation lounge not long after.” _

“Ok then.” replied Trent. “We’re going to have to be fast. Can you get your friend to take Discovery to our location as well?”

_ “I’ll send him your coordinates and tell him we need them there.” _ Answered Picard.  _ “Until then, remain calm and we’ll be there shortly. Picard out.” _

“Remain calm?” Exclaimed Hawk. “The Empire’s going to have a route straight into deep Federation space soon and they’ve got a super weapon capable of destroying planets now.”

“Actually Lieutenant, it may be easier than you think to destroy the Death Star.” Replied Horan. “Me and Commander T’pon were looking through the schematics of the Death Star when we found an unnecessary series of exhaust ports which connected straight to the main reactor assembly. If we were to fire a torpedo at this area, it would go straight through and hit the reactor, destroying it.”

“Send me as much of the Death Star’s weaknesses as you can lieutenant.” Ordered Trent. “I’ll be in my ready room.” 

“Aye sir.” replied Horan as Trent walked into his ready room, the door shutting behind him with a hiss.

In the depths of space, the Arizona and the Hotspur stopped next to each other. Deeper in space, 8 more ships were rushing to their location, running to coordinate to stop the empire from destroying the Federation.


	5. Escape

#  Chapter 5: Escape

“As promised, she’s all yours Captain, all systems automated and ready.” reported Scotty as the bridge crew of the Discovery, spare for Ensign Tilly, walked onto the bridge. They still wore their uniforms from the era they came from, Federation Blue with silver, copper and gold implants into the uniform. “I would say a chimpanzee and two trainees could run ‘er, but now it doesn’t even need the chimpanzee.”

“And why would that be?” asked Saru, walking over to the command chair on his hoofed feet.

_ “That would be because of me.” _ Answered Zora, startling everyone in the room.  _ “My apologies for startling anyone. I am Zora, a manifestation of Discovery’s computer attempting to fight off control.” _

“Fascinating.” Commented Michael Burnham, the ship’s science officer. “An artificial intelligence, created from the sphere data we recovered.”

“Aye, isn’t she a beauty.” added Scott. “Not only was she able to hide our activity aboard here, but she also helped me re-fit Discovery to more modern standards. She’ll give ye warp 8 on the new scale now, her shields are just as good as a Galaxy Class and she now has modern standard phaser arrays and transphasic torpedoes.”

_ “I also have full control of all systems on this ship. Should you require Discovery to do anything, I will be able to do it. I can relinquish control to you though, if that’s the way you’d prefer it right now.” _

“I think we’d prefer if you let us operate Discovery now.” remarked Saru. “Speaking of which we should all get to our posts now.” 

The bridge crew all moved to their respective positions, Saru to the captain’s chair, Burnham to her science station, Detmer to Helm, Owosekun to Operations, Nilsson to Spore Drive Control, Nhan to Security, Rhys to Tactical and Bryce to Communications.

“Lieutenant Detmer, take us out.” Ordered Saru. 

“Aye Captain.” Replied Detmer. Discovery started to move slowly out of the drydock it was currently in, drifting out as alerts blared across Utopia Planitia.

“Captain, we’ve got an unknown vessel on an intercept course towards us.” announced Owosekun. 

“Put it on the viewer.” ordered Saru. The ship came up on the transparent screen on a window. It looked like the standard federation profile, but more streamlined, with shorter nacelles and a smoother hull.

“That’s one of the brand new Vesta Class ships!” exclaimed Scott. “They’re the ones with those confounded new Quantum Slipstream drives.”

“Captain, the Vesta class ship is hailing us.” announced Bryce.

“Onscreen.” ordered Saru. A human male appeared on the screen, with a Vulcan to his left and a Trill to his right.

_ “This is Captain Dexar of the USS Aventine.” _ Stated Dexar.  _ “Cut your engines and prepare to be boarded.” _

“Bridge to Engineering, is the Spore Drive ready yet?” asked Saru.

_ “Commander Stamets is in the reaction cube.” _ reported Tilly.  _ “We can start the spore drive build up sequence whenever you’re ready.” _

“Lieutenant Nilsson, start the spore drive build up sequence.” Ordered Saru.

“Aye sir.” Replied Nilsson, pressing a few buttons on her display. “Initiating excess energy cavitation.”

The outer and middle rings of Discovery started spinning as the ship started to run away from the Aventine. The Aventine wasted no time in pursuing them, firing several rounds from her Phaser cannons, which the Discovery attempted to evade. A few pulses did manage to hit her though, but these were absorbed by her new shields,which encased the ship in a bubble. 

However, a single Imperial probe dropped out of hyperspace in front of Discovery. While they attempted to scan into the system, the Discovery accidentally crashed into it, destroying it and lodging the debris into the gaps in between the rings. 

“What was that?” Asked Saru.

“We just collided with what looks like a probe.” reported Burnham. “It’s in the configuration of the Galactic Empire.”

“We’ll have to tell Admiral Picard that those daft Imperials have found a way to Sol when we get to him.” Added Scott.

“Speaking of which we need to get to him.” replied Saru as the ship shook with the impact of another phaser pulse. “Do you have the coordinates Picard sent you?” 

“Yes I do.” answered Scott. “Inputting coordinates into the helm now.”

“I have the coordinates Captain.” announced Detmer. “Ready to engage the drive on your command.”

“Go!” exclaimed Saru.

Blue cracks started to form in the space surrounding Discovery. In desperation, the Aventine fired several quantum torpedoes at the Discovery but it was too late; the ship flipped a full 360 degrees on it middle axis, before jumping down laterally in space, visibly fading away as the quantum torpedoes from the Aventine were condemned to forever travel through the depths of space. 

On the Discovery, the transition from their previous place to their destination was near instantaneous, a white blur filling the viewscreen before they arrived at their destination, in front of a small fleet of 5 ships, with a 6th one joining them shortly after Discovery’s arrival. A Galaxy Class Venture Refit moved to confront it, the massive saucer of the ship dwarfing the Discovery’s ringed one. 

“Captain, that ship is hailing us.” announced Bryce.

“Onscreen.” ordered Saru. on the screen came a Human male in his 30’s, with brownish hair.

_ “This is Captain Darius Trent of the USS Arizona.” _ Greeted Trent.  _ “You must be the Discovery.” _

“We can’t tell you how relieved we are to finally be at this point.” Commented Saru. “are you aware of the presence of Imperial probes in the Sol system?”

_ “We are.”  _ answered Trent.  _ “We discovered they were using the Neutral Zone as a method of evading our patrols. We’re meeting up here with the Enterprise to discuss our next move. You can join us when Enterprise arrives.” _

“Understood Arizona.” Replied Saru. “We look forward to discussing our situation.”

_ “We’ll see you there, Arizona out.” _ the transmission ended, closing the window it was on and leaving the viewscreen the sight of the Arizona and the other ships. 

On the Death Star, a meeting of the joint chiefs was in place. These men, assembled by the Emperor himself, were meant to help him guide the Empire to victory in martial manners. These men though, were currently struggling to come to an accord as to how to crush the Federation.

“If we use our stormtroopers, we will most certainly crush the Federation homeworld!” Yelled General Cassio Tagge, the leader of the Imperial Military. “Our invasions of their outer colonies shows that the Federation ground forces are no match for ours!”

“Will all respect General, your forces wouldn’t even manage to get into the atmosphere of their homeworld.” Combated Admiral Conan Motti, the Chief of the Imperial Navy. “Their starships would take out your landing craft just after they were launched.”

“And so what do you suggest, the Death Star?” asked Tagge.

“Precisely so general.” replied Motti. “We can use this battlestation to wipe out their homeworld before they could react.”

“Ah gentlemen, I see the meeting has started without us.” stated Tarkin as he walked in with Vader behind him. “I have just received word that the Federation home system has been discovered. Although we couldn’t get bearings on which planet their homeworld is on, we did get readings of a shipyard in orbit of the 4th planet, before the probe was rammed by this vessel.” 

He put a recording of the ship on the viewer. The ship looked like other vessels they had seen from the Federation, except with two spikes in the concave dish and a bronze colour on the hull. Behind it appeared to be another ship pursuing it and even further beyond both of them looked to be a series of drydocks. The ship rapidly approached the camera before the screen turned to black and went into static.

“What happened to the other probes?” asked Motti.

“The decoys were all destroyed by the patrols, and the remainder reported they were pulled out of hyperspace before they were destroyed by vessels which look like this.”

Tarkin put up another image on the viewscreen. It looked radically different from a Federation starship, with a bird-like shape and a hollow shell-shaped body. It was coloured green, and appeared to be much larger than any Federation ship seen to date. 

“Are these the Romulans mentioned in the briefing?” asked Tagge.

“I hardly think it matters.” Interrupted Motti. “We know where the Federation home system is and we are currently meeting in the perfect weapon to destroy it.”

“But what of the Tantive IV?” Queried Tagge. “If the Rebels have given the plans of this battlestation to the Federation, it is very likely that they will be able to locate a weakness and exploit it.”

“The plans you refer to are now invalid.” answered Vader. “Measures have been made to re-fit the Death Star against any possible attack.”

“Besides, any attack made by the Federation against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained.” Commented Motti. “This station is now the ultimate power in the Multiverse! I suggest we use it.”

“Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed.” Combated Vader. “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force.”

“Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader.” replied Motti. “Your sad devotion to that ancient religion didn’t help you in the Battle of the Ivor System or give you the ability to squash the Federation resista-”

Motti suddenly felt a strange force around his neck. He tugged at his collar to try to give him more space to breath, but it only lead to him choking even more. He looked up at Vader, and saw the Sith Lord’s hand in a choking hold pointing at his neck.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.” tauntingly commented Vader as Motti continued to choke.

“Enough of this! Vader, release him!” ordered Tarkin.

“As you wish.” He stopped force-choking Motti, leading to the Admiral to fall face first onto the table, shaking as he looked back up at Vader with fear in his eyes.

“This bickering is pointless.” stated Tarkin. “We will launch an attack on the Federation homeworld and destroy their capital planet, using this battle station and a sizeable amount of escorts. We will then spread out through this galaxy until we have conquered it’s entirety!”

“As you wish Grand Moff.” replied Tagge. “Should I put my troops through their paces?” 

“Train your troops for combat scenarios involving the mysterious teleportation ability their ships have, and ways to counter such attacks.” ordered Tarkin.

“Yes sir.” replied Tagge. He then proceeded to walk out of the room with his new orders.

“Motti! If your quite done with lying on the table!” yelled Tarkin, causing Motti to rise from his seat in panic. “Assemble a fleet of 500 Star Destroyers to escort the Executor and the Death Star to the Federation capital.”

“Yes sir.” replied Motti. “I won’t fail.”

“You’d better not.” threatened Tarkin as he watched Motti walk out with a silent glare.

In space, the Death Star orbited Ivor Prime with it’s escorts. The Empire, now with a plan to crush the Federation, now worked on the plan to burn one of the dominant forces in the region to ashes and rumor.


	6. The Plan

#  Chapter 6: The Plan

In space, 11 ships sat in a circle in meeting, the starships Arizona, Olympus, Destiny, Enterprise, Okinawa, Hotspur, Titan, Crazy Horse, Galway, Prometheus and Discovery. These ships, all part of Admiral Picard’s resistance, now had their Captains meeting on the Enterprise in order to coordinate tactics.

In the Enterprise’s observation lounge, Admiral Picard sat in his chair at the head of the table. Further down the table was occupied by the Captains he commanded over, Captains Trent, Mercer, Archer, Sakura, Soto, Riker, Garwin, Styles, Adams and Saru. 

“So, what have you managed to discern?” asked Picard to the room.

“Well, our Romulan friends certainly know those probes weren’t ours, so we’re in the clear there.” replied Mercer. “We should expect them to assist us in the war effort if the Empire decides to fight them as well.”

“Personally I think we could use all the allies we can have in this war.” commented Riker. “Have you had much luck with the klingons Captain Adams?”

“The Klingons are willing to provide us with ships, but they’re still trying to scrape together a fleet to join us.” answered Adams. “They’re still recovering from the Dominion War, so we could probably expect a Klingon fleet to assist us within the next few weeks.”

“But in that time the Federation could be overrun with Star Destroyers.” Rebutted Archer. “There is a full fleet of over 500 ships coming through the neutral zone right now, who’ll be at Earth in half a week, and they’ve brought a moon sized battle station with them.”

“What’s the details on that battle station they brought in?” Asked Picard, attempting to change the topic of the conversation.

“Well, from the plans given to us by the Tantive IV, it’s a massive planet destroyer.” Answered Trent, bringing the schematics for the Death Star on the screen. He walked out of his chair to start to point at the schematics. “It uses a hypermatter-based reactor at it’s core to generate energy, which is then refocused by what are referred to as ‘Kyber crystals’ into a massive superlaser. The power from such a weapon is capable of destroying a planet.”

“Sounds like a less efficient planet killer if you ask me.” Commented Riker. “Does it have any weaknesses we can exploit?”

“It does actually.” Replied Trent, refocusing the schematics on the northern part of the Death Star. “There are a series of exhaust ports in what is referred to as the ‘polar trench’ that connect straight to the main reactor. These ports, while shielded, are only protected from energy weapons, meaning we can use torpedoes to destroy the monstrosity.”

“But were this thing to attack Earth, by the time a torpedo of any kind reached the core, it would be too late.” Added Styles. “The super weapon would have already fired and destroyed Earth, leaving it only a matter of time before the rest of the quadrant fell.”

“Maybe we don’t need to fire at the exhaust port.” Proposed Saru. “We could use the Discovery to jump into the reactor core area and fire at it from there. It’d be much faster, meaning they’d have less time to fire their weapon.”

“You know what, that could work.” Commented Trent. “The reactor area is roughly 2 kilometres in diameter, meaning you’d have more than enough room to move around in there.”

“Excellent, start planning for such an assault immediately.” Ordered Picard. “I’ve been in contact with Starfleet Command about our situation. While they are less than happy about the theft of the Discovery, they agree that the current threat means we will have to put aside that for now. They’re attempting to scrape together a fleet, but they’re only going to be able to pull in a maximum of 300 ships. It’ll be up to the Discovery and it’s crew to destroy the Death Star before it can fire, and up to everyone else to delay the Star Destroyers from reaching Earth.”

“But how will we get they’re on time?” Asked Garwin. “Even at maximum warp, it’d take us at least half a week to get back to Earth.”

“I guess we’ll just have to try to beat them there.” Answered Picard. 

“I assume you’ve sent over all information about Imperial strengths and weaknesses to Command?” Queried Sakura.

“I have relayed all data about the capabilities of Imperial starships to Starfleet Command.” replied Picard. “However, should they fail to distribute them, we can hail the fleet and tell them to focus their fire in those places.”

“Another thing to add is that the Death Star is slower in hyperspace than the Star Destroyers, so we can expect up to a half-hour delay in it’s appearance.” added Trent.

“Not to mention they only managed to get hyperspace routes up to Utopia Planitia.” continued Saru. “We can engage them there while we wait for the Death Star to come.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, time is of the essence here.” ended Picard as he got out of his chair with a tug down on his uniform. “To your ships!”

“Aye sir.” replied Everyone else in the room as they also got out of their chairs, walking out of the door onto the bridge and from there the turbolifts.

Trent pressed his combadge on his chest. “Trent to Aldrin.”

_ “Aldrin here.”  _ replied commander Aldrin through the combadge.

“As soon as I’m on board, set course for Earth and engage at maximum warp.” ordered Trent. “I also want you to synthesize roughly 30 quantum torpedoes and transport them to the Discovery, should she run out of Transphasic torpedoes for a time.”

_ “Aye sir.”  _ Replied Aldrin. _ “Are we going to try to defend Earth?” _

“If we can’t stop Earth being destroyed we’ll die trying.” Answered Trent. “Trent out.” He tapped his combadge again, ending the communication as he stepped into the turbolift.

“Here’s the report on the Sol system you requested my lord.” reported Motti as he walked onto the bridge of the Executor. The sith lord, in the middle of conferring with Ozzel and Tarkin through a holocommunicator, turned around to face the Admiral behind him. “We were only able to get scans and hyperspace routes up to the planet they call Mars, but from the looks of it, they’re amassing a fleet near the planet. There are roughly 200 ships currently there, all of varying configuration and size.”

“They must’ve found the remains of the first probe we sent there.” remarked Vader. “Prepare to launch all fighters as soon as we come out of hyperspace.”

“I’ve also come to inform you that the Death Star will be roughly 30 minutes late to the battle, as it’s hyperdrive is unable to keep up with our fleet.” added Motti. “Regardless of which I was able to get more reconnaissance on the planet we will have to engage them at.” He walked up to the viewer and imputed a few commands, and a small orange planet appeared on the screen surrounded by hundreds of small drydocks. “The planet they refer to as Mars is host to what appears to be a key shipyard of the Federation, so we must send a small strike force to destroy this, while the main fleet awaits the Death Star not too far from there. We can send a few interdictors and about 100 Star Destroyers after the main fleet, so that we take minimum losses and are ready in case we end up being outnumbered. We can also follow your suggestion and launch several TIE squadrons to scout ahead for us, and have several more assigned to protect the fleet in case of an attack on our lines, although I highly doubt they will attempt to do so.”

_ “An interesting plan of attack Motti.” _ commented Tarkin through the holocommunicator.  _ “Did you get anything on the mysterious bronze ship?” _

“Unfortunately, I was only able to get it’s name and ship class.” answered Motti as he brought the bronze ship on the viewer. “I present to you the USS Discovery, a Crossfield Class science vessel.”

“Surely the Federation wouldn’t send a science vessel into combat?” bewilderedly asked Ozzel.

_ “Perhaps our intelligence is correct then, that the Federation is nothing but a bunch of peace savvy cowards.” _ remarked Tarkin.

“I do not agree with such a statement Grand Moff, as you have seen the resolve of their attacks in our limited encounters with their ships.” replied Vader. “Although we have been mainly seeing the same ships every time we fight them, they still fight hard for a group of scientists and diplomats.”

“I also intercepted communiques that the Arizona is currently on it’s way to the Sol system to help them against us.” added Motti. “It’s fleet should arrive there shortly before we do. Although there is something peculiar I want to mention about the Discovery.”

_ “Please do explain.” _ requested Tarkin.

“Through intercepted communiques, I was able to determine the Discovery ended up with the Arizona’s fleet. Yet, when I scanned Utopia Planitia, it was suddenly there.”

“There could be a duplicate ship there.” suggested Ozzel. “We well know we recycle names of Star Destroyers when we run out of ideas.”

“Or this ship has some form of unknown form of propulsion that allows it to go anywhere it wants to without hindrance.” added Vader. “We should be extremely careful when dealing with this ship.”

_ Continue working on your battle strategy Admiral Motti.” _ ordered Tarkin.  _ “We will come up with a method for combating the Discovery while we are safe in hyperspace.” _

“Yes sir.” replied Motti. He turned on his heels and walked out the door, the three men staring him down from behind as he left.


	7. Prelude to a Battle

#  Chapter 7: Prelude to a Battle

In orbit of mars, the Federation were just as busy. With time running out to get ships in, they had been desperately bringing in ships from across the quadrant, with ships of all sizes joining formation near the shipyards in wait. Orbital defence platforms were also being laid out, as well as a minefield in an attempt to defend the installations present. 

In her ready room on the USS Voyager, Vice Admiral Janeway sat on the lounge, looking out into the fleet. Outside her window, two Galaxy Class starships and an Akira class orbited a Buckingham Class station, and a Steamrunner class exited an orbital drydock after resupplying, only for it’s position to be taken by an Excelsior class. Behind the Excelsior were countless other ships of varying classes waiting in queue for resupply and last minute refits, and many more ships sat in space, waiting for orders as the time to the Imperial attack drew ever nearer.

As if on cue, Commander Tuvok walked in with a PADD, startling Janeway and making her stand up.

“As ordered, I have a current list of ships which are here or on their way here, as well as their statuses.” Reported Tuvok as he handed her the PADD. She scrolled through the list until she found something of interest.

“The USS Davis’s battle group has been delayed?” she asked in confusion.

“The USS Nautilus suffered a warp drive failure when the fleet was approximately 5.5 Light years away from Utopia Planitia.” explained Tuvok. “As a result, the fleet is waiting for her to complete repairs before they get back underway. They expect to arrive here now in approximately 17 hours while they attempt to resolve the issue.”

“They’d better damn hurry, the Imperial fleet’s going to be here in 20.” remarked Janeway. “It appears the remainder of Admiral Picard’s group is going to arrive around then as well.”

“The Admiral has informed us that they have come up with a plan of attack against the Death Star, and has sent it along with the Discovery. However, they are currently being held back by the USS Hotspur, which is slowing them down due to it’s slower top speed.”

“Honestly, I don’t know why the Miranda and Excelsior class ships are still in service.” exclaimed Janeway. “It would be better to replace the entirety of them with Akira, Steamrunner and Saber Classes.”

“May I remind you, Admiral, that that is what is currently happening.” reminded Tuvok.

“I understand that it’s happening, I just don’t see why it has to happen so slowly.” replied Janeway. “Even in the Dominion War, those ships were a prominent sign on the frontlines, and that was after the Cardassian war had proven they were getting old.”

“Nevertheless, we must start to plan a method of attack.” added Tuvok. “I suggest we assume a ‘moving wall’ attack formation, in order to defend the shipyards and the inner solar system. We can also use the Verteron array to attack any ships that get too close to Utopia Planitia, as well as attack their fleet from afar.”

“I like the use of the Verteron array, but I feel a moving wall is just going to make our ships easy pickings if we get in close.” commented Janeway. “If we have to get close, we should move in a starburst formation. Based on our intel, their ships have poor maneuverability, range and targeting abilities.”

“Indeed, the data we have that was collected by the Arizona suggests that their ships are too large to maneuver effectively, their weapons are incapable of holding any reasonable energy after 100 Kilometers and they use human gunners to fire these weapons.”

“It’s such a shame, they’re humans as well.” added Janeway. 

_ “Nechayev to Janeway,” _ interrupted Janway’s combadge,  _ “aren’t you coming to the Admiral’s meeting on Utopia Station 1?” _

Janeway tapped her combadge before replying with “I am. I’m on my way.”

_ “The meeting’s in 20 minutes.” _ added Nechayev.  _ “Don’t be late. Nechayev out.” _

“I’m sorry Tuvok, but we can discuss this more later.” Apologised Janeway. “While I’m gone, can you start rearming the Transphasic torpedoes left in our cargo hold after the Discovery ‘borrowed’ some of them?”

“I will begin categorizing and rearming the Transphasic Torpedoes we have left, and also prepare the tricobalt devices.”

“Thank you Tuvok.” complimented Janeway. “Keep me posted.”

She walked out her ready room door, onto the bridge of the Voyager, an all too familiar layout from her days originally commanding the Intrepid Class starship in the Delta Quadrant. She still sometimes imagined in her head she was still in the Delta Quadrant, alone with no-one else but her crew to support her. Recent times had made this hard to find the time for though, as she had been constantly busy with the legal procedures involving the Discovery’s re-appearance and it’s involvement with Section 31. And now the arrival of this human dominant ‘Galactic Empire’ from another universe had her head racing with thoughts; were there even more parallel but different universes out there and if so, did they pose a threat to the Federation? She had the gut feeling that however many additional universes they found, it was likely she wouldn't be happy with the results as she walked into the turbolift, the doors opening to greet her with a hiss as she walked in.

“Deck 4.” she ordered the turbolift as it closed shut, before it started racing across the ship to bring her to her destination.

_ Captain’s log Stardate: 57648.67. The Arizona has been at high warp for over 3 days now, attempting to get back to defend the Sol system. While we may be able to beat the Imperials there, I still feel a lingering doubt in my mind about my fate in the war. I know my crew will perform any task laid in front of them admirably, evidenced by their patience and composure during our recent almost uneventful patrol of the Ivor Sector. I just hope that whatever path I follow, it leads to the war ending. _

“How much longer till we arrive at Utopia Planitia?” Asked Trent as he stood on the bridge of the Arizona, his bridge crew all in their normal positions.

“ETA till rendevouz with the fleet in 5 minutes.” answered Hawk, turning her head to face her Captain.

“The Imperial fleet will get there in approximately 10 minutes.” added Organa.

“Cutting it close.” commented Aldrin.

“Bridge to Engineering, can we go any faster?” asked Trent through the intercom.

_ “The Arizona is currently more than capable of exceeding our current speed.” _ answered T’pon through the intercom.  _ “However, we are being slowed down by the older ships in our fleet, the starships USS Hotspur, USS Crazy Horse and the USS Okinawa, as they are incapable of matching our top speed. If we go any faster, we leave these ships behind and exit formation.” _

“Very well then, Bridge out.” ended Trent. “Th’etonnor, put the current fleet disposition and our orders on the viewscreen.”

Th’etonnor pressed several buttons on his control panel, bringing up a 1000 Kilometer map surrounding Mars. Separated by a border to the left, a series of ship classes that were going to be at the battle was presented, underneath which lay a series of orders which the computer then read aloud.

_ “Starship USS Arizona NCC-70199: you are ordered to take command of Galaxy wing 14. Ships in this Galaxy wing include USS Avenger, Defiant Class, USS Galway, Akira Class, USS Amsterdam and USS Steamrunner, Steamrunner Class, USS Okinawa, Excelsior Refit Class, USS Destiny, Intrepid Class, USS Surak, Miranda Class, USS Yeager and USS Peterson, Saber Class, USS Aventine, Vesta Class, and USS Prometheus, Prometheus Class. Your Galaxy wing will be under the jurisdiction of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E. You are to defend USS Discovery NCC-1031 at all costs before arrival of orbital battle station designated Death Star. Further orders will be issued throughout the battle.” _

“If we win this, I reckon they’re going to be calling it the Battle of Sol.” commented Horan. 

“I still don’t see why someone would even dream of attacking Sol these days.” remarked Hawk. “Every time someone does try they end up losing.”

“That doesn’t stop them from inflicting major damage on Starfleet facilities.” rebutted Aldrin. “You yourself witnessed what the Breen did to San Francisco during the Dominion War.”

“Uh, Captain, we’re in visual range of the fleet now.” announced Hawk, attempting to change the topic of the conversation.

“Onscreen.” ordered Trent with a soft chuckle. The image on the viewscreen changed from the stars streaking past the ship to the massive fleet they were about to join. While it was smaller than other fleets pulled together during the Dominion War, it was still quite large, with a few less than 300 vessels all in formation. They were of all sorts of classes, ranging from as small as the Defiant to as large as the Sovereign, and many assorted smaller ships sat all in the same direction. The fleet seemed to slowly zoom in as the Arizona drew closer to the fleet. 

“Th’etonnor, order all ships in our Galaxy wing to rendezvous near the Discovery.” ordered Trent. “We can coordinate from there while we wait for the Imperials to show up.”

“Aye sir.” replied Th’etonnor. 

The small group that Admiral Picard rapidly approached the fleet. The ships then started to split up, some following the Olympus, others following the Arizona as they made their way to their respective positions in the fleet. The Arizona did a hard 180 degree turn to starboard as it slowed itself down and allowed itself to drift into position, before stopping in formation with all the other ships it commanded. 

“The Imperial fleet is roughly 5 minutes away.” Announced Organa. 

“Take the ship up to Red alert.” Ordered Trent. A robotic klaxon noise could be heard in the background as the black panels which were previously lit in yellow started flashing red, along with the ship’s operating system switching to the same colour as well. 

“Admiral Picard is sending out a general hail to the fleet.” Reported Th’etonnor.

“Put it through.” The face of Admiral Picard appeared on the view screen as he started his speech.

_ “This is Admiral Picard of the USS Enterprise. We have one job: to protect Discovery until the arrival of the Death Star. Once the fleet drops out of hyperspace, Galaxy Wings 3, 7, 9, 13 and 15 will begin strafing runs on Imperial lines. The USS Davis and it’s attack group will defend the shipyards, and Galaxy Wings 5, 11, 14 and 17 will be the front line of defense for the Discovery against the Imperial fleet. Everyone else is to target the fleet from afar and fire torpedoes for as long as you can. Enterprise will assist in the defence of the Discovery, but as soon as the Death Star arrives, everyone is to fall back. All ships on strafing runs, use attack pattern Picard 3. In order to destroy a Star Destroyer, you will have to target the two shield generators at the top of the command tower, before aiming for the main reactor bulge at the bottom of the ship. This is Starfleet. Make it so. Picard out.” _

“Here they come.” Was all Organa could say before a massive fleet of nearly 500 Star Destroyers dropped out of hyperspace roughly 200 Kilometers away from the Federation fleet. Despite the distance away from the fleet, ships from the Imperial side were still visible with the naked eye, especially the extra large vessel identified by Ensign Organa as a ‘Executor Class Super Star Destroyer’ one of the largest ships ever built by the Empire. The ships sent to straff the Imperial ships went up to attack them, and The Battle of Sol began.


	8. The Battle of Sol

#  Chapter 8: The Battle of Sol

**Engagement 4: Battle of Sol**  
  
---  
  
**United Federation of Planets**

| 

**Galactic Empire**  
  
Class: Galaxy/ Galaxy Venture Refit

Ships present: 25

Known ships: USS Arizona, USS Venture, USS Galaxy, USS Sydney

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.9

Armament: 12/14 Type X Phaser banks, 2 torpedo launchers, 250 Photon Torpedoes, 50 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 8 shuttlecraft, 1 Danube Class Runabout

| 

Class: Imperial 1

Ships present: 450

Known ships: ISD Chimera

Maximum combat speed: MGLT 60

Armament: 75 turbolaser cannons (turret based), 60 ion cannons.

Weapons layout: Forward, Starboard, Port, Dorsal

Auxiliary craft: 72 TIE fighters, 8 Lambda class shuttles, 15 Troop Transports  
  
Class: Galaxy X

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Olympus

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.98

Armament: 2 Phaser cannons, 15 Type XII Phaser banks, 1 type XX Spinal Lance Phaser, 7 torpedo launchers, 200 Photon Torpedoes, 200 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 4 shuttlecraft, 12 Peregrine Class fighters, 8 Danube Class Runabouts

| 

Class: Interdictor

Ships present: 48

Known ships: 

Maximum combat speed: 975 KPH

Armament: 4 Gravity well projectors, 20 Turbolasers

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Starboard, Port, Dorsal

Auxiliary craft: 24 TIE fighters  
  
Class: Excelsior/ Excelsior Refit

Ships present: 47

Known ships: USS Okinawa

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.4

Armament: 16 Type VIII/10 Type X Phaser banks, 6 torpedo launchers, 60/30 Photon Torpedoes, 60/90 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 6 shuttlecraft, 6 shuttlepods

| 

Class: Executor

Ships present: 1

Known ships: SSD Executor

Maximum combat speed: 40 MGLT

Armament: 4,000 Turbolasers, 

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Starboard, Port, Dorsal

Auxiliary craft: 855 TIE fighters  
  
Class: Intrepid

Ships present: 10

Known ships: USS Destiny, USS Voyager

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.975

Armament: 13 Type X Phaser banks, 4 torpedo launchers, 55 Photon Torpedoes, 40 Quantum Torpedoes, 5 Tricobalt devices (USS Voyager possesses an additional 50 Transphasic Torpedoes)

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 7 shuttlecraft, 2 shuttlepods, 1 Delta Class runabout.

| 

Class: DS-1

Ships present: 1

Known ships: Death Star

Maximum combat speed: 10 MGLT

Armament: 10,000 Turbolasers, 1 Mk I superlaser

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 7,000 TIE fighters,  
  
Class: Sovereign

Ships present: 5

Known ships: USS Enterprise, USS Davis

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.985

Armament: 14 Type XII Phaser banks, 5 torpedo launchers, 250 photon torpedoes, 250 quantum torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 10 shuttlecraft, 4 Danube Class Runabouts 

|   
  
Class: Luna

Ships present: 2

Known ships: USS Titan

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.975

Armament: 13 Type X Phaser banks, 4 torpedo launchers, 50 photon torpedoes, 100 quantum torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 5 shuttlecraft, 1 shuttlepod

|   
  
Class: Prometheus

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Prometheus

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.985

Armament: 14 Type XII Phaser banks, 3 torpedo launchers, 200 photon torpedoes, 200 quantum torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 5 shuttlecraft, 1 shuttlepod

|   
  
Class: Saber

Ships present: 24

Known ships: USS Yeager, USS Peterson

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.8

Armament: 3 Type X Phaser banks, 2 torpedo launchers, 30 photon torpedoes, 30 quantum torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 5 shuttlecraft, 1 shuttlepod

|   
  
Class: Miranda

Ships present: 32

Known ships: USS Hotspur, USS Nautilus, USS Surak

Maximum combat speed: warp 9

Armament: 10 Type VIII Phaser banks, 4 torpedo launchers, 30 Photon Torpedoes, 30 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 4 shuttlecraft, 1 shuttlepod

|   
  
Class: Steamrunner

Ships present: 50

Known ships: USS Amsterdam, USS Steamrunner

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.7

Armament: 11 Type X Phaser banks, 4 torpedo launchers, 45 Photon Torpedoes, 45 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 7 shuttlecraft, 3 shuttlepods

|   
  
Class: Akira

Ships present: 50

Known ships: USS Galway

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.8

Armament: 6 Type X Phaser banks, 15 torpedo launchers, 200 Photon Torpedoes, 175 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 10 shuttlecraft, 5 shuttle pods, 40 peregrine fighters

|   
  
Class: Nebula

Ships present: 25

Known ships: USS Bonchune

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.6

Armament: 11 Type X Phaser banks, 7 torpedo launchers, 250 Photon Torpedoes, 50 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 10 shuttlecraft, 12 shuttle pods, 1 Danube Class Runabout

|   
  
Class: Vesta

Ships present: 3

Known ships: USS Aventine

Maximum combat speed: Quantum slipstream (equivalent warp 9.999997359835618)

Armament: 9 Type XII Phaser banks, 2 Pulse Phaser cannons, 3 torpedo launchers, 175 Photon Torpedoes, 200 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 6 shuttlecraft, 4 shuttle pods

|   
  
Class: Defiant

Ships present: 25

Known ships: USS Avenger

Maximum combat speed: warp 9.6

Armament: 4 Pulse Phaser cannons, 2 Type X Phaser banks, 4 torpedo launchers, 36 Photon Torpedoes, 60 Quantum Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 1 shuttlecraft, 2 shuttlepods

|   
  
Class: Crossfield

Ships present: 1

Known ships: USS Discovery

Maximum combat speed: warp 8

Armament: 10 Type X Phaser banks, 4 torpedo launchers, 50 Photon Torpedoes, 30 Quantum Torpedoes, 20 Transphasic Torpedoes

Weapons firing arcs: Forward, Aft, Starboard, Port, Dorsal, Ventral

Auxiliary craft: 10 Shuttlecraft 

|   
  
In space, nearly 500 Star Destroyers of mainly Imperial 1 class sat in space slowly moving forward. This fleet opposed about 300 Federation vessels, all of assorted classes with the most common being the Akira and Steamrunner classes. The Galaxy Class ships lead smaller groups of about 12 assorted ships, in a formation known as ‘Galaxy wings’, and the Sovereign Class ships had command over these.

5Galaxy Wings moved to engage the Imperial forces. These ships, lead by the USS Sydney, fired several phaser beams at the domes of the Imperial ships on the front lines, before a huge volley of Photon and Quantum torpedoes came hurling out at the Star Destroyers. The Star Destroyers, still out of range of the ships, were helpless as the torpedoes and phasers pounded into their hulls, some even exploding from hits to the reactor or the command tower as some of their counterparts attempted retaliation, the turbolaser bolts from the vessels losing power and the majority of them missing their targets. The ships attacking then suddenly went to warp until they were directly next to the Imperial ships, which had little time to react before the ships poured out a barrage of phasers and torpedoes, destroying several star destroyers. The Star Destroyers were able to fight back though, as thousands of turbolaser bolts were hurled towards the ships, 2 Miranda classes and an Excelsior class failing to warp away from the barrage and exploding. The remaining ships went to warp again, repeating the cycle of attack and withdraw as they continually weakened the Imperial front lines. 

While this was happening, 50 Star Destroyers, accompanied by 15 Interdictors, broke formation and went to attack the shipyards. Most were cut down by the main fleet’s barrage of torpedo fire, but roughly 20 managed to break through to the shipyards, although some were very badly damaged. 

With a quickened haste, the USS Voyager, the USS Davis and the Davis’s attack group broke the line in order to defend the ship yards. The Voyager, armed with Transphasic torpedoes, fired on the fleet, one torpedo being enough to destroy an entire ship. The Star Destroyers were quickly dispatched by the small group of ships, but not without inflicting casualties, as 4 Saber classes, 3 Excelsiors and a Miranda ended up being destroyed in the ensuing return of fire, the ships now nothing but debris floating in space.

The USS Olympus then fired it’s lance phaser, cutting straight through several Interdictor class vessels until it reached it’s intended target; the Executor. Although having to go through at least 5 ships, the beam still managed to reach the Executor, thanks to a cutting beam mode recently installed on the ship. The ship’s shields managed to bear the brunt of the force as it started to launch TIE fighters after the ships attacking the front lines.

The TIE fighters began attacking the Federation ships at the front lines, their unconcentrated fire doing little against the Federation shields. While they weren’t necessarily damaging the ships, they were proving to be a distraction, causing several ships to instead target them. Without shields, the TIEs were helpless as they were vapourized on the spot, their previous mass now nothing but energy as the battle raged on.

Their sacrifice though, allowed the Star Destroyers to begin pushing back against the Federation forces. They started to concentrate their fire on the Galaxy Class ships, and ships such as the Sydney started to take heavy damage to their shields. Smaller ships, attempting to defend these, began to lash out as well, the Defiant classes especially destroying several ships before falling back to Federation lines to regroup and coordinate with the rest of the ships. In total, 50 Star destroyers were lost on the Imperial side, whereas a Galaxy, 4 Nebulas, 10 Excelsiors, 3 Steamrunners and 4 Mirandas were lost to the Federation. 

While falling back to the Federation lines, the Interdictor class vessels began to power on their powerful interdiction fields, their combined power enough to prevent any ship from entering hyperspace in the area. While they thought this would have an affect on the Federation’s maneuverability, it did little to slow them down, as the distance between the two forces was still a steady 200 kilometers as the Federation torpedoed the Imperial fleet from afar. 

With this, a total of 100 Imperial ships went to engage the Federation lines in an attempt on the shipyards. The Federation wasted no time, bringing down dozens Star Destroyers before they were in weapons range. It was then the Star Destroyer’s turn at firing, as they responded with thousands of Turbolaser bolts hurled towards the Federation fleet. While most ships were able to avoid being hit, some were caught off guard, the USS Aventine especially taking dozens of hits as it hid behind the USS Arizona. The Arizona defended the Aventine from further attack, firing at any ship’s attempting to destroy it. 

Through all this commotion, the USS Discovery had been busy quietly charging up it’s spore drive. The saucer section’s rings had been spinning in their usual manner, consuming the excess energy generated from using the spore drive. And with a spin on it’s spinal axis, the ship disappeared in a flurry of blue cracks and floating spores, only to reappear next to the Executor. It then proceeded to fire a single Transphasic torpedo at the nose of the vessel, the advanced torpedo phasing past the Super Star Destroyer’s shields as it impacted on the hull, the resulting explosion taking out a full 8 kilometers out of the Executor’s length. Before any ships could respond, the Discovery jumped back to it’s original position, from which it continued to fight the Imperials as the Galway, Avenger and Peterson moved in to defend the Crossfield Class vessel.

It was then that the Verteron array on Mars begin to rain hell on the Imperial attack. The array itself, long since upgraded since the days of the United Earth, had multiple firing points now, and each one of them focused on a different Star Destroyer. The beams of extremely accelerated verteron particles slammed into the Star Destroyers, the sheer force ripping away they shield domes before tearing the hull plating away like tissue paper, the Star Destroyers now nothing but empty frames floating in space as the Federation fleet pushed back against the empire.

On the Arizona, the crew were pushing hard to defend the Aventine and the Discovery. With the loss of the USS Surak and the USS Amsterdam from the Arizona’s wing of ships, it was now spreading it’s forces out more thinly to combat all the threats present, sending the Galway, Avenger and Peterson to defend the Discovery, the Steamrunner, Prometheus and Okinawa to engage the attacking Imperial ships and the Destiny was helping it defend the Aventine as the Vesta class ship attempted repairs to it’s shield emitters.

On the bridge of the Arizona, Captain Trent steadied himself as the ship was hit by a round of turbolasers, most passing through the superstructure of the Galaxy Class ship as the Arizona responded in kind with a full spread of Quantum Torpedoes at a Star Destroyer’s exposed reactor dome. The dome exploded, bringing down the ship in a ball of flames and sending it’s crew to a likely death by either burning or asphyxiation in space.

“The Aventine is hailing us sir.” reported Th’etonnor as the Arizona lurched to evade the wreckage of a Steamrunner Class ship, the remains appearing on the viewscreen for a fleeting moment. “Audio only.”

“Patch it through.” ordered Aldrin.

_ “This is Lieutenant Commander Dax of the Aventine.” _ came through the speakers.  _ “Our shields are back online.” _

“Excellent work Commander Dax.” complimented Trent. “My condolences for the loss of your Captain and First Officer.”

_ “Don’t worry about them Captain.”  _ Replied Dax.  _ “Let’s just make sure their deaths weren’t in vain.” _

The Aventine wasted no time in getting back to the situation at hand, firing several rounds of Phaser Cannons and quantum torpedoes at a Star Destroyer’s shield generators, the domes exploding under the phaser cannon fire as the torpedoes made short work of the rest of the command tower. The Aventine moved on to join the Arizona as it started to push back the Imperial fleet, the ships attacking the main Federation fleet now reduced to only 35 vessels.

At this point, the Imperial ships attacking the Federation fleet began to retreat, the ships lumbering to turn to get back to their main fleet. The Federation ships wasted no time, firing at their engines where the Star Destroyers had no weapons. The weapons impacted on the engines, some ships ending up exploding as the Federation ensured a costly retreat for the Empire. In all, the Empire lost 130 ships in their assault on the main Federation fleet, where the Federation lost 3 Galaxy Classes, 9 Akira Classes, 5 Defiant Classes, 13 Steamrunner Classes, 20 Miranda Classes, 9 Saber Classes, 23 Excelsior Classes and a single Intrepid Class vessel in the brief assault, cutting them down to less than 2 thirds of their original force. 

The Imperials, however, still outnumbered them, as they still had nearly 300 vessels, and started to launch every single TIE fighter in their fleet. This number, massing up to 21,408 TIEs, swarmed together in one massive group, blocking the Imperial fleet from view as the Federation ships began picking them off using their phasers and using torpedoes to get rid of large clusters. Some ships even started to launch their Danube Class Runabouts, and the Akiras began to roll out their Peregrine Class Attack fighters, all of which possessed shields and warp drive. All in all, the Federation were able to scramble nearly 80 Runabouts and more than 1,600 fighters that, while out numbered, still had shields systems and omni-directional weapons. They began to attack the Imperial fighters and, while they were outnumbered, they still managed to cut through great swathes of TIE fighters, as their shields and maneuverability protected them from incoming fire. The remaining 20 Defiant classes then joined in the firefight, using their pulse phaser cannons and Quantum torpedoes to eliminate large amounts of fighters while they were still trying to turn around to combat the Federation small craft attack. The use of Quantum torpedoes started chain explosions throughout the TIE fleet, as not only were the small, weak fighter consumed by the original explosion, but their debris was sent flying throughout their lines which, while a shielded vessel could easily deal with, caused the unshielded TIEs to explode on contact. With no Federation small craft losses, they were able to eliminate the majority of the TIEs before a single Runabout exploded, the TIEs finally managing to take down the shields of a runabout and hit it on the nacelle, the resulting explosion damaging the shields of other Runabouts and fighters as the TIEs began to fall back.

On the bridge of the Executor, Captain Firmus Piett got back on his feet after Vader used the force to lift a piece of debris off his body which was preventing him from getting up. As he looked across the bridge, he saw dead officers lying across the room as the dual trenches at the front of the bridge were rowed with exploded panels and slumped officers as those left alive were trying to clean up after the mysterious yellow torpedo fired by Discovery took out half the ship. Looking out the window, he saw what remained of the Executor as the debris of the other half of the ship floated in front of the slowly drifting Executor as the newly created front of the ship was a mess of torn structural frames, blackened hull plating and frozen crewmembers.

He looked down to his left to find Admiral Ozzel lying on the floor with a piece of shrapnel in his head. The former Admiral, who had once been his superior, now lay cold on the floor with lifeless eyes as all his bodily functions steadily died off without life support. He crouched down as he confirmed in his mind that the man who stood over him for years now lay dying on the hard floor.

“Ignore him Captain.” Stated Vader as he placed a cold mechanical hand on Piett’s shoulder. “He was as clumsy as he was stupid. His mistake of bringing us too far away from their forces has lead to our current situation.”

“I know I shouldn't concern for him too much.” replied Piett as he got up to face Vader, kicking Ozzel’s lifeless body away in the process. “It just seems so odd he had to go at this moment.”

“Regardless of which his decision has lead to our disablement.” continued Vader. “The main reactor was destroyed in the attack, as well as over half of our turbolasers and our primary hangar bay. Our shields, remaining weapons and hyperdrive remain offline as our backup reactor was damaged in the attack as well.”

“Do you want me to go down and get them to hurry up?” asked Piett as he began to panic at the thought of his own death at the hands of a superior enemy.

“I will command the fleet from up here.” Answered Vader as he turned to walk to the front of the bridge, Piett trailing behind him. “You are to attempt to get the backup reactor operational so we may still be of some use in this fight. Should you fail, the consequences would be dire for all left on this ship.”

“Yes my Lord.” Acknowledged Piett as he began to turn to the door.

“Should we come out of this alive Captain, you will find that we will need someone to replace the incompetent Ozzel.” Added Vader, turning to face Piett walking out. “It’s up to you to get this ship running,  **Admiral** Piett.”

“Yes my lord.” Replied Piett with a heightened attitude. “I will not fail you.” 

Just as Piett walked out of the room, one of the survivors in the trench managed to get a dead officer off the communications panel, looking with bizarrement as it flashed to indicate a ship was hailing them.

“My lord, someone is hailing us.” He called out as he attempted to focus in on the signal. His face turned to a sigh of relief as he announced. “It’s the Death Star. Grand Moff Tarkin is signaling.”

“Put him on the viewer.” Ordered Vader as he turned to face the screen at the back, which had survived miraculously intact. The screen turned to static before clearing up to show the face of Wilhuff Tarkin on the bridge of the Death Star.

_ “Lord Vader,”  _ he started as he looked to be peering beyond Vader at the damage to the bridge,  _ “has the Federation been giving you trouble?” _

“I was right to worry about the Discovery.” Answered Vader. “It fired a single torpedo that somehow managed to penetrate our shields and destroy over half the ship. I have my men currently working to bring the backup reactor online. We’ve lost the majority of our fighters and about two fifths of our attack force.”

_ “It doesn’t appear you will need to be in too much of a rush, Lord Vader.”  _ Overconfidently Replied Tarkin.  _ “Nearly their entire fleet went into retreat as soon as the Death Star arrived-” _

“Except for Discovery.” Interrupted Vader. 

_ “It will not be a problem for much longer.”  _ Stated Tarkin as he looked down at his gloved hands.  _ “The vessel is attempting to evade our fleet by maneuvering through our forces. It will be destroyed though; they can’t keep manoeuvring around us and expect their fuel to last.” _

“Be careful Tarkin.” Cautioned Vader. “The lives of everyone here and your own count on it.”

_ “Stand by for further instructions.”  _ Coldly Replied Tarkin as he looked back up at Vader.  _ “Tarkin out.” _


	9. No Mercy

#  Chapter 9: No Mercy

Grand Moff Tarkin smiled a sly smile as he ended the communication to Vader. Vader’s overreliance on his subordinates had been his downfall, as the Death Star was greeted with less than 3/5ths of the original force present. And now he saw that the Executor was left without power as the ship that severely damaged it, the Discovery, continued to evade the fleet’s fire as it weaved through the debris lying in front of the fleet. Nevertheless, Tarkin believed it would not be a problem for much longer, and he would be receiving praise for his work on saving the empire from a bitter defeat.

“Sir, the USS Discovery is making a break for us.” Reported Motti as Tarkin turned to face him.

“Prepare to engage with turbolasers as soon as they are in range.” Ordered Tarkin. “Prepare the Superlaser for firing on the nearby planet.”

“Sir, that planet does not appear to be the Federation capital planet.” rebutted Motti. “Our probes have shown the planet is uninhabitable without extensive terraforming. Furthermore-”

“I’m sorry, are you questioning my orders?” tauntingly Questioned Tarkin as he shot a deadly glare back at Motti. “That planet is home to one of the Federation’s major shipyards. If we destroy it, we will be able to force their surrender to us while at the same time crushing any chance of them forming a resistance of ships. Now do as I say before I report you for insubordination!”

“Yes sir.” whimpered Motti as he walked with haste out of the room to the reactor core to start the reactor buildup sequence.

“Discovery will enter maximum turbolaser range in 30 seconds.” announced an officer.

“Put it on the viewer.” Tarkin requested. The awkwardly proportioned, bronze colored ship appeared on the screen as it finished maneuvering through the scattered debris of a ship of the same class as the USS Arizona. The ship then continued on a straight line directly for the camera which was taking the image. 

“Order the ISD Chimera and it’s armada to assist us in the riddance of this vermin.” disgustedly ordered Tarkin as he waved a gloved hand at the viewer, before putting it behind his back with the other. However, something caught his eye; the rings of the Discovery’s saucer were spinning. He had seen brief updates on the battle that they had done so as well before it mysteriously appeared and disappeared in front of the Executor, but this time it could be attempting retreat, right? Whatever it was doing, he had a queasy feeling in his stomach that things would not end well for him.

“Discovery will be within range in 10 seconds.” reported the officer, snapping Tarkin back into reality. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1-”

Suddenly, blue cracks began to form in the space surrounding Discovery. The ship spun on it’s spinal axis before disappearing as the turbolasers sent to greet it streaked out into the emptiness of space.

“What just happened?” asked Tarkin, bewildered at the events which just occured.

“The Discovery is just...gone.” confusedly answered the officer as he worked at his console with a frown on his face.

“What do you mean gone?” demanded Tarkin as he walked over to the console.

“Just that sir, she’s gone.” replied the officer. “We can’t see her, and our probes aren’t picking up anything either.”

_ “Reactor control to bridge, ” _ suddenly came through the speakers,  _ “a starship has appeared in the reactor containment region.” _

“What?!” exclaimed Tarkin with a shock. “Put the reactor containment region on the viewer.”

An image of the reactor area appeared on the viewer. The Discovery was there, it’s saucer still spinning as it slowly drifted inside the room. The ship ejected several small, black containers from what appeared to be a rear hangar bay, before it once again turned on it’s spinal axis and jumped down as it dematerialized through the containment walls.

“Sir something is ha-” was the last thing Tarkin would ever hear before the viewscreen turned a brilliant white, followed by an intense heat around him before eternal darkness.

In space, the Death Star stood in the middle of the remaining Imperial fleet, as ships stayed as escorts around it in order to keep it protected from a Federation attack. There were at least 100 Star Destroyers surrounding the monstrosity alone, with the Executor a bit further away due to the heavy damage it had sustained. No single ship was prepared for the carnage that followed.

Without warning, the Death Star exploded, the explosion itself sending shockwaves in every direction. Any ship 50 Kilometres away from it was instantly vaporized by the explosion, and ships only slightly further away were ripped apart by the shockwaves and debris that followed. The Executor, while being a steady 100 Kilometers away, still felt a significant portion of the shockwaves, the waves sending the 11 Kilometer long remains of the once 19 Kilometer long Dreadnought adrift and spinning as an unfortunate Star Destroyer was crushed against it’s remaining hull. In total, the Empire lost the majority of the remaining attack force, with a relatively modest 94 Star Destroyers, 5 Interdictors and the Executor left of the once proud 500 strong fleet. But that was the least of their concerns. 

The Discovery dropped out of it’s spore drive right on top of the remaining ships, firing a full spread of Transphasic Torpedoes at the fleet before jumping away, the Torpedoes taking out several Star Destroyers. This was followed by the arrival of the rest of the main Federation fleet, which had gone to a safe distance away from the Death Star before it had exploded, and split off into three groups which came from all directions as the Imperials quickly found themselves outgunned and outnumbered. The three groups, lead by the starships USS Voyager, USS Enterprise and the USS Arizona, rained quite literal hell on the remaining ships, coming from every direction as every ship poured out Quantum Torpedoes and phasers, at a rate of which some Imperial ships didn’t need their shield domes to be destroyed before they suffered the same fate as their counterparts earlier in the battle. As soon as the Federation ships were within turbolaser range of the Imperial fleet, they proceeded to burst apart in a pre-coordinated Starburst pattern, each ship moving erratically to avoid being hit as they still managed to cut through the Imperial fleet. There would be the occasion where the odd Federation ship burst into flames, but this only lead to the group fighting even harder to make up for their losses. 

On the Executor, the crew watched as their smaller counterparts were slaughtered by the Federation. A Star Destroyer flared up in front of them as a smaller but deadly style ship fired a series of orange pulses at the bridge domes of another, eliminating the weak domes as the crew watched on in horror.

_ “My lord, we’ve managed to restore engine power.” _ crackled through the speakers as the ship rocked with the shockwave of another explosion.  _ “We will have shields and weapons power in about 10 minutes.” _

“That will not be necessary Admiral Piett.” replied Vader. “We have lost the battle. We must ensure we survive to defend our remaining territories in this universe. Can I be certain the hyperdrive is in working order?”

_ “The hyperdrive is fully functional my lord, we can go to light speed at your discretion.” _ Answered Piett.

“Tell any remaining ships to retreat with us back to the Ivor system.” Ordered Vader. “We will re-evaluate our position here as soon as we make it there.”

“Yes my lord.” Replied an officer.

“My lord, there appears to be an escape pod from the Death Star!” announced the Comm officer. “It’s Admiral Motti!” Vader suddenly looked intrigued at this information.

“Bring him aboard, then get us out of here with the others.” replied Vader. “I will confront him personally when he comes aboard.”

The Executor’s engines flared a deep orange as they attempted to manoeuvre the ship into the appropriate hyperspace course, alongside all of the remaining ships. With a sudden rush, the small escape pod made it’s way into the hangar bay of the Executor as this happened, enclosing it’s occupant in the safety of the ship. The Federation armada attempted to prevent their escape, destroying several Star Destroyers while they were attempting to get away. But nevertheless, some still managed to get away, with the Executor, 5 Star Destroyers, and 2 Inderdictors managing to get away, torpedoes and phasers sent out at them now forever traveling through the depths of space until they lost power. In all, the Federation lost an Akira Class, 2 Miranda Classes and a Saber class in their renewed attack on the Imperial fleet, with the empire losing all ships that failed to enter hyperspace. And so ended the Battle of Sol, the first official victory for the Federation in the war.

“Here’s the casualty list you requested sir.” announced Aldrin as she walked into Captain Trent’s ready room with a PADD in her hands. It had been 6 hours since the Executor and the few starships left in the Imperial fleet had managed to get away from the Sol system, and the fleet had been recovering at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, with badly damaged ships scattered around the planet in orbital drydock facilities with starships queuing up for repairs behind them. The Arizona, while prominent in the battle, was stuck in a queue for a Galaxy Class repair bay, sitting behind the USS Venture but ahead of the USS Galaxy as it awaited repairs. 

“Thanks Aldrin.” replied Trent as he took the PADD in his hands and read through it.

“We took casualties mainly on decks 6, 13, 24 and 19.” Explained Aldrin. “In total, there were 15 casualties, 14 of which were console related injuries, and one death in main engineering when crewman Chen fell off a collapsing walkway while attempting repairs to the phaser links.”

“Just another one of those letters to write.” sadly commented Trent. “I haven’t had to write one of those in 5 years.”

“It’s a shame he had to give his life for this.” added Aldrin. “Command’s estimating casualties for us approaching 40,000 and still climbing.”

“I can assume casualties for the Empire are much worse.” 

“Based off our scan estimates, we’re estimating numbers over 2 million for the Empire.”

“It’s a real shame we had to destroy the Death Star.” commented Trent. “That must’ve taken up half of their losses.”

“You have to admit, at times they were using questionable tactics.” remarked Aldrin. “Their distance away from our fleet put them out of their range, but was well within ours. And they just stayed there.”

“We may never be able to understand their minds and what drives them straight to conflict.” Commented Trent. “All we can hope for at this point is that the Federation will take a more active role in the war from now on.”

“From what I hear, they are.” added Aldrin. “I heard they’re sending the 4th and 7th fleet to chase them out of the Paulson nebula. There’s even talks of talking back the Ivor system and having a primary means of striking at their galaxy.”

“It’s a wonder the Klingons haven’t joined us yet.” remarked Trent. “Do you have any plans in the next week?”

“No actually I’m free.” answered Aldrin. “What are you getting at?”

“Well I was just thinking that there’s going to be an officer’s celebration at Utopia Planitia 1 in two days, and I was wondering if you’d like to come with me.” Aldrin sat in silence for a second as she considered his proposal.

“I’d be delighted to sir.” replied Aldrin as she smiled. Trent grinned with the same intensity as they both locked eyes with each other.

_ “Sir, Admiral Picard wants to be debriefed on the condition of the Arizona.” _ came through the speakers at that moment, interrupting the moment.

“Tell him I’m on my way Th’etonnor.” replied Trent as he hurriedly got out of his chair.

“I’ll cover the bridge for you.” Stated Aldrin. “It’s lucky I also included a condition report on the ship at this moment on the PADD.”

“I don’t know where I’d be at the moment without you Aldrin.” remarked Trent as he walked around the desk.

“Probably grovelling at Admiral Picard’s desk for mercy.” replied Aldrin, causing both her and Trent to chuckle in jest as they walked out of the room and onto the bridge.


	10. The End?

#  Chapter 10: The End?

Onboard the damaged Executor, Darth Vader walked the corridors of the ship towards the debriefing room. The ship itself now lay in hiding inside a region of space identified as the ‘Paulson Nebula’, with the remaining 5 Star Destroyers and 2 Interdictors in formation around it. All ships were busy attempting repairs as the Executor lost it’s hyperdrive partway into the journey, forcing them to seek refuge until it was fully repaired. The fleet’s current state was now thanks to the destruction of the Death Star, killing nearly the entire Joint Chiefs and taking the highest ranking officer in the Imperial military, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, with it. Vader had it in mind to talk to a particular survivor of the battle, one he’d expected to perish alongside Tarkin.

As he walked into the debriefing room, he saw the face of this person; Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, the Chief of the Imperial Navy and the mysterious sole survivor of the Death Star’s destruction in the Battle of Sol. The Admiral, who had previously being milling around while sitting at the table, suddenly stiffened up in full salute as the Sith Lord walked into the room.

“My lord!” He respectfully greeted with a hint of fear in his voice.

“Take a seat, Admiral.” Commanded Vader with his usual baritone voice. Motti fumbled around for a few seconds before taking a seat at the table, Vader standing in front of him. 

“Tell me what happened on the Death Star Admiral.” 

“We were in the midst of preparing to fire the super laser when the USS Discovery suddenly… appeared in our reactor core.” He started. “It then dropped what appeared to be large scale bombs inside the reactor containment area before disappearing shortly before they went off. I overheard the news through station wide comms.”

“And tell me, why were you the only survivor?” Asked Vader.

“Everyone else was too busy attempting to figure out what was happening to escape.” Was Motti’s response. “I was luckily close enough to the escape pod region for me to get out before the whole thing was blown to kingdom come.”

“But tell me, why did you not choose to die then and there?” Prodded Vader, his voice changing to an even sinister tone. “Surely such an advocate of the Death Star like you would wish to perish alongside it.”

“With all due respect, my lord,” he began to explain, “while I was a major advocate for the Tarkin Doctrine, I had my limits where Tarkin did not. To add to that, would you prefer one member of the joint chiefs still alive to all of them dead?”

Vader attempted to probe Motti’s mind, attempting to see some sort of truth behind the man’s lies. But the further he went, the harder it seemed to see into his mind. Even when he did manage to break through, there was seemingly nothing there of any interest, almost too much. While Vader had some doubts, he had to agree with the lowly human; why have no survivors of the Death Star when you can have one?

“It seems I owe you an apology, Admiral.” Remarked Vader, breaking the silence between the two men. “I was conspicuous of your survival being merely out of instinct, but you have shown me that you left the Death Star with good intentions. We will need strong people like you in the future to help rebuild our presence in this universe.”

“Yes my lord.” Replied Motti as he once again saluted Vader. “I will not fail you.”

“You’d better not.” Was all Vader said as he walked out of the room, leaving Motti alone in the dark. As Vader walked out of the room, he looked back on Motti, who had gone back to relaxing at the table. In his mind, one thing was certain; he would be keeping a distant but careful eye on Motti in future.

Inside Utopia Planitia 1, an officer’s gathering was being held inside the club room of the Spacedock-type station in orbit of Mars. Inside, gentle piano music could be held in the background as fellow Captains and officers were all in gathering. Outside, ships sat in orbital drydocks as people mingled around inside the Starbase.

By the wall next to the row of windows, a temporary plaque was hung up with the names of the Starships which were unfortunately destroyed in the prior battle. Images were also flashing up on the walls of each starship, ranging from small Miranda classes to Galaxy class ships. Several people mingled around these, looking at the casualties and giving condolences to those closest to the people killed.

Next to the bar, Captain Riker and his wife, Commander Troi, were talking to Captain Saru about prior events.

“That was some expert piloting from Commander Stamets’ Captain Saru.” commented Riker as he took a sip from his Synthohol beer. 

“It was mostly Zora that did the planning Captain.” replied Saru. “All Stamets had to do was put the ship where he had to.”

“I understand your ship is in for a full refit.” asked Troi.

“The Discovery will be undergoing a more permanent weapons upgrade in the near future, in order to increase it’s torpedo and phaser capability.” answered Saru. “We’ll most likely be off the front lines for a few months.”

“Well, when you do come back, I think you’ll be there just in time for when we begin invading their territory.” Replied Riker. “I still wonder why they classified the Discovery and the Spore Drive.”

Meanwhile, Admiral Picard was busy talking to Scotty over a case of Aldebaran Whisky.

“And so I understand you’re reactivating your commission Mr Scott?” Asked Picard.

“Aye I am.” replied Scott as he skulled his glass. “I’ve spent too long out doin nothin. You getting me to assist Discovery was all I needed to get me going again.”

“Well I think you’ll be delighted to know I’m assigning you as Chief Engineer of the Discovery.” informed Picard. “You’ll be presiding over the refit the ship is about to get.”

“Thank ye Admiral.” thanked Scott. “There’s a lota changes I want to make to that ship.”

“I also hear the refit might be several months.” remarked Picard. “Can you do something about that?”

“Oh don’t worry Admiral, it won’t be that long before you see Discovery back out there fighting those daft Imperials.”

While this all happened, Captain Trent stood by the window, looking out into space. Out the window, the USS Arizona sat still in space, temporarily encased in the spider like shape of the orbital drydock it now sat in. He stood in awe as he thought back to the previous few years; going from a small time lecturer at Starfleet Academy to being one of only a couple dozen to command a Starship in their 30’s was an extraordinary feat, although he was having doubts about himself as he stared out at his ship.

“Is there something wrong sir?” asked Aldrin as she walked in on Trent behind him, momentarily startling him.

“Oh nothing, just thinking.” replied Trent, turning back to face her. “I thought you were talking to Ensign Organa?”

“Oh, she had to go help one of her mechs with the next probe we’ll be sending through the anomaly.” answered Aldrin. “What were you thinking about?”

“Oh, just thinking about how frail mortality is and why we play around with it so often.” Trent answered as he accompanied Aldrin to a nearby table by a different window. “Every time we end up in a battle, I keep on thinking my life is nearing it’s end.”

“Oh come on, it happens to everyone.” remarked Aldrin. 

“During the last one, that thought kept on growing.” added Trent. “I know it’s irrational and I should ignore it, but still it possesses me.”

“You know what, why don’t we go to the bar for a couple rounds with Captain Mercer?” proposed Aldrin. “That could get it off your mind.”

“Yeah, why not.” sarcastically replied Trent. “After all, we’ve got to head out tomorrow and the ship still needs some repairs done.”

Aldrin and Trent chucked before the former replied with “Don’t worry, it’s just synthehol. You’ll be fine.” The two of them smiled as they walked away to the bar, away from the window as the emptiness of space persisted, leaving no sound to pass through as activity bustled around outside the station, with starships leaving and entering drydocks and others going to warp to combat the Imperial threat.


	11. Epilogue

#  Epilogue 

Admiral Motti hurried around the corridors of the Executor to his quarters. He had taken the bridge watch for the past several hours and after ensuring that no Federation ships were currently on their way, he relieved the watch to the recently promoted Admiral Piett. The Admiral seemed more than happy to relieve him, as he was finally not under the control of the ignorant and seemingly idiotic Ozzel. While Motti had not personally known Ozzel, he was relatively upset when he found out he had perished, as he was originally a valuable asset in his plans. But nevertheless, he haphazardly tossed his old plans out the window and was currently scheming a new one to compensate.

Once he was inside his quarters, he ensured that no security cameras or sensors were inside the room. While he knew Imperial sensor technology was relatively simple, he still didn’t want to be caught by surprise. He looked through every nook and cranny in the room, ensuring that no-one could witness what he was doing.

Next, he walked around looking for a bucket of sorts. Anything would do, it just had to be concave. He found an empty trash can next to a desk which, while a trash can, was seemingly clean and was large enough for him.

Then finally, when he was absolutely sure no-one was watching, he let everything go… and slid into the bucket as his natural form took over. In his natural state, he existed as an orangish puddle of liquid, or what his race was rather known by as the Changelings, the leaders of the Dominion, which occupied a vast portion of the Gamma quadrant, the amount of space in their control dwarfing that of all the Alpha and Beta Quadrant powers combined.

He let his mind go as thousands of other voices overlap to form a joyous harmony in his head, establishing a secret telepathic bond with the Founders that he was sure that even the overbearing Lord Vader could not detect with his mysterious force abilities. An older raspy voice suddenly emerged from the pleasant chaos, directed at him.

_ “So you managed to survive Vader.” _ stated the voice.  _ “Have you managed to find anything else about their universe.” _

_ “They appear to have less advanced sensor and range capabilities than us.”  _ answered the Changeling telepathically.  _ “They will be no match for any fleet we send through.” _

_ “Were you able to discern anything about their telepaths?” _ asked the voice. 

_ “Nothing so far, except from what I can tell, their telepathic abilities seem to be hampered by this universe.” _ replied the Changeling.  _ “However, their abilities are enhanced in their own universe, and I do not think I will be able to communicate with you safely once I am there.” _

_ “Then you must do what you can to disrupt their ability to attack us until we are ready.” _ ordered the voice.  _ “I can assume you sent the person you are imitating to us?” _

_ “The real Admiral Motti is on his way to you unconscious in an escape pod, along with a few of their infantry they call Stormtroopers.” _ replied the Changeling.  _ “Their hyperspace is far faster than our warp drive, so they’ll be at the closest Dominion outpost to mapped imperial space in about 3 days. I took blood samples from him, so if they attempt to ascertain whether I am actually me, they will be deceived.” _

_ “Our Jem’hadar will be looking forward to testing the new humans’ capabilities.”  _ replied the voice.  _ “You have truly done a great service to the Dominion.” _

_ “Until next time then, Odo.” _ ended the Changeling.

_ “Until next time.” _ ended Odo before the voices slowly faded away, leaving the Changeling alone to plan for the Dominion.

Inside the tech dome of the Lars family moisture farm, Luke Skywalker was busy working away at a strange device, with his friends including Windy, Deak, Laze and Camie ‘helping by sitting from the sidelines and occasionally getting a tool for him. They had been standing there for the past half hour, watching as Luke had been madly tinkering inside the scorched shell of the device, which looked like it had somehow not only survived atmospheric re-entry on Tatooine, but also quite a turbolaser pounding. Remarkably, the internals were quite intact, and an assortment of components, all branded with some sort of logo and the words “Property of Starfleet” written underneath.

“Could you actually tell us why we’re here?” Impatiently asked Laze. “We’ve been here for ages watching you tinker around with that thing.”

“This is just some thing.” Luke shot back as he got up from underneath the device. “It’s a very complex communications buoy, more complex than anything the Empire’s got.”

“So, it might just be an experimental prototype we can give back to them for a heap of credits.” Camie said as she folded her arms. “If anything you’re hurting the value of that thing by tearing it apart.”

“I don’t think we’ve got a ship called the ‘USS Enterprise’ now don’t we?” Argued Luke as he gestured to the words written on the casing. “Besides, this thing is nothing like what the Empire has. I’ve brought up the tech schematics of every probe the Empire fields, past and present, and the technology of this is far beyond any of them.”

“This part looks like part of some protective paneling for a computer of some sort.” Commented Deak as he picked up a piece off the table. 

“Yes, and if I can get to the computer, I’ll be able to figure out what this thing is for and how I can sell the parts of it.” Added Luke. “Could someone pass me the hyperspanner? I think I’ve come across some sort of holographic system.”

“Sure, like that’s worth much.” Laze taunted as he threw the hyperspanner at Luke, his hand mysteriously knowing where it was and catching it without looking. 

“No, this looks completely different to anything I’ve seen.” Replied Luke as he suddenly poked the hyperspanner in the wrong place, activating the probe as it whirred to life and suddenly projected an image in front of the group, startling them all and sending them backing up to the wall. Luke himself joined them as he studied the hologram closely. 

The hologram itself was beautifully created; it looked so close to reality it may as well have been real. It wasThe detail in the features, colouring and shading was astounding, unlike the small glitchy holograms they knew of with blue shades colouring everything. Luke wondered what such race could create such a beautiful hologram, and how it was made.

The hologram itself was of a woman in her mid 20’s, with her hair tied up in traditional Alderaanian style. She was wearing some sort of military uniform; a black jumpsuit with grey, lined shoulders and a red collar. On the collar was a single pip, obviously some sort of rank insignia, and on her left breast there was a badge with the same symbol as on the parts of the probe.

_ “This is Ensign Organa of the USS Enterprise, or as you probably know me as Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan.”  _ she said, the voice sounding smooth and natural rather than the corrupted sounds they heard normally from a hologram.  _ “Some months ago, the Empire attacked my ship, the Tantive IV, in the Tatooine system. During the attack, we accidently fell through an anomaly and somehow ended up in a completely different universe. In this universe, the benevolent United Federation of Planets exists in the place of the Empire, a forward thinking society where education and morality are placed far above money and power. These people rescued us, and in return we have assisted them in any way we can against the Empire.” _

Luke started to think about this Leia Organa. Somehow, he knew he had seen her before, and something deep within him told him he should’ve known her already. He dismissed the thought of knowing the Princess of Alderaan before the hologram continued.

_ “But it is not enough. The Empire has begun to overwhelm the Federation, and they are struggling to fight the Empire as we speak. To the person whom this message is directed to, please, get the rebellion here as fast as you can, so we may not have to fight this war alone. Help us Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope.” _ The image faded away, leaving nothing but the air in it’s steed.

Luke knew what he had to do from the moment he heard the name ‘Obi Wan Kenobi’. He hurried back to the probe and frantically started to undo the damage he had done to it.

“Hang on, what’s happening now?” asked Laze. “I thought we were going to sell this thing for parts.”

“It’s too late for that now Laze.” replied Luke as he ran over to the table and grabbed a piece of the probe. “You saw the message; we need to get this thing to Ben Kenobi as soon as we can.”

“Well can’t we just upload the message onto a data chip and give it to him?” proposed Laze. 

“The file is completely incompatible with any type of data chip we have here, believe me I’ve tried.” responded Luke. “Now can you help me get this thing back together?”

“Fine we’ll help.” relented Laze as he slapped his hands on his thighs. He picked a piece off the table as the others did so in assistance of Luke, who was busy undoing the mess he had made inside the probe.


End file.
